Avenge Me Book 2- Avenge Me
by Ezra Cross
Summary: AOU! In this story, Hawkeye must come clean about his new family after a threat he never expected shakes down his very house. Desperate, he forces the others to help him find his kidnapped family again, before he loses them all forever.But how will the team react to this secret he has kept hidden from them? Claura! Hawkeye whump, shattered romance, and an ADORABLE Lila Barton!
1. Prologue

!Proverbial AOU SPOILER ALERT!

 **Disclaimer:** _I own nothing but my own concepts. they will be rented on request:)_

 **True Description:** This is my take on Clint's new family, separate from my Hawkeye Initiative universe which is ending with "I Can Hear the Drums". In this story, Hawkeye must come clean about his new family after a threat he never expected shakes down his very house. Desperate, he forces the others to help him find his kidnapped family again, before he loses them all forever. But how will the team react to this secret he has kept hidden from them? Hawkeye Whump, shattered romance, tragedy, and an ADORABLE Lila Barton.

* * *

 **Avenge Me**

 _Author: Ezra Cross (formerly PeechTao)_

Prologue _  
_

"He—Hello? Hello, is this the Avenger's Tower?"

"You have reached Stark Industries in New York, can I ask where I may direct your call?"

"I need to speak to Clint Barton. Is he there? Please, tell him it's Laura and he'll understand. I need to speak to him! It's an emergency!"

"Ma'am, if you are calling in reference to an emergency, we recommend you hang up, and dial 911. Your local—"

"You don't understand! I need him, I need Clint. If you can hear me, please. Please, it's Laura! Something's happened. Something terrible! Can't you understand, I need to hear him?!"

"Ma'am, I can hear you are under some kind of duress. I must insist you hang up the phone and dial 911."

"Clint! Clint, please!"

A woman screamed. In the background there is the sound of metal screeching into metal like the slam of an incoming train. The operator calls out to the woman, desperate to get her back on the line but there are only her continued cries.

Glass is smashed. Something collides with the phone, sending it skittering to a thudding stop where the world becomes muffled around it.

"Ma'am?" the operator calls out into the bleakness.

There is no reply.

Metal now tears against metal. Something peels apart and hits the ground with a crash. An engine roars to ferocious life as tires squeal into a quick retreat.

"Ma'am?" the operator asks, more quietly. All hope is now lost. He thinks, perhaps, the woman has simply been kidnapped. By who remained to be seen, but there is hope nonetheless present when he transfers the recording to a flash drive and extracts it from the computer hub personally. As he removes his headset and clutches the woman's final words in his fist, he has already decided to deliver this missive personally to the private Avengers' floor. They could listen to it, or not. No doubt they had multiple calls like this every day. It is hope that drives him up to those private quarters.

He has no idea that the woman, hundreds of miles away, is already dying in a pool of blood, hanging lifelessly out of her smashed car door while her assailants beat a hasty retreat.

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A typical opening for one of my wild rides!

Please review! you know it makes me post faster;)


	2. Chapter 1

Thank you to all my fantastic reviewers! You got questions? i got answers:) I might not always respond personally to every review, but as this was the first chapter, I feel I should!

 **I propose from here forward that Clint and Laura will sail under the fanfic "ship" named Claura!**

Thank you to:

My 2 lovely guests! Welcome aboard!

Ms. Hawkeye: Awe! I Can Hear The Drums will literally set out to destroy all of your emotions, one at a time. This Book? Yeah...its gonna happen too:)

m klindt: It was super short! And yet, you have at least been hooked:)

AvengerOfFiction: Welcome to the excitement!

amy. .9 More surprises, intrigue, and OMG moments to come!

Casey Storm: We'll see what happens! And THANK YOU for the compliment! Welcome to the Hawkeye Initiative, where everything's made up by me and it's all connected;)

Niom Lamboise: Welcome!

ZafiraMente: *commences evil author laugh*

discordchick *still comences evil author laugh*

Lillehafrue: welcome back!

DatNatCatThoe: my first attempt at the Fams, I'm excited!

IWriteSinsOrTragedies: I love this penname

Hamato Alexa: your wish, my command:)

Daughter of the North: Welcome back! I'm excited to see where this goes too!

* * *

 **Avenge Me**

 _Author: Ezra Cross (formerly PeechTao)_

Chapter 1

Losing possession of Loki's scepter in the fallout of SHIELD's demise was one reason for housing all of the Avengers under one roof. Another, was Tony Stark's incessant curiosity and desire to "poke the bear". The team, now known worldwide as the Avengers, were a steady mixture of sugar, spice, salt, and C-4 blended by the devil himself in a cauldron over hell-fire. Wherever they went, destruction proceeded them. Bruce Banner liked to point out that the majority of that happened before they arrived on the scene, but facts were facts. The team was a typhoon. But even those got results.

Clint Barton mulled over his thoughts as he rested on one of the communal couches. His left leg was propped up on the center table with a shopping bag full of ice steeped on top of his knee. Thor, dressed down into what he considered normal clothing, stood across from him with his arms folded, a guilty finger scratching beneath his chin and a matching look of unease furrowing his brow.

"In all fairness, I had thought you a HYDRA agent. You were aptly dressed."

Clint's expression, a demur sourness matched only by Grumpy Cat himself, continued to stare the Asgardian down. "I was _undercover_. I _told you_ I was undercover and not to go in, hammer-swinging, and shatter my knee cap. And what did you do instead of listening to me?"

Thor wrinkled his face. "Yes, about that, I again apologize. I suppose I underestimated your ability to blend in."

"I'm not sure if I should be insulted by that," Clint said, dead pan.

From the Ivory Tower of Stark and Banner's work space, the owner of Avengers' Tower himself jogged down the metal staircase to join the duo. He tapped away absently on his cell phone and added to the conversation, "Oh, don't take the punishment too harshly, flyboy. We all respect your keen ability to wear black ski masks and hide in plain sight." Tony hit his phone icon and slipped the device into his back pocket. He smiled at the equally unpleasant look Barton shot to him instead.

"Ok, now I know to be insulted."

Joking aside, Tony pointed at the mound of ice and asked, "Did you really break it?"

 _"I_ didn't break anything," Clint replied, emphasizing himself with a hand over his heart.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Well, did Thor break something on you?"

"No, actually, I think I rolled away from this one intact, more or less. Unlike three weeks ago when you decided to—"

Tony walked swiftly toward the bar shaking one hand through the air as if swatting Clint's words away like pesky gnats. "La, la, la! Can't hear you! I thought we moved beyond my accidentally trying to fricassee your tail feathers? Did we not agree to not bring that up?" He leaned over the bar top and fished for a bottle of aspirin. Coming up with it, he returned and held them out for Clint to take.

Barton accepted the peace offering. "What, can't a guy get some water too?" It was pushing his luck, and he knew it. In all honesty, the knee wasn't any worse than colorfully bruised. He just enjoyed an opportunity to bust Thor's stones over the misstep. The next time it happened, he might not get away without a serious break.

Tony opened his mouth to offer a sassy reply that might match Clint's own, though Thor beat him to the punch. The guilty teammate headed away to fetch a glass when the secure entry just down the hall sounded a chime. Either Natasha had returned from her work out, or Hill heard about Clint's troubles and came up to witness the aftermath for herself. She liked poking fun at him as much as all the others did.

Clint braced himself for whatever woman might arrive. In one case, he could handle Hill's jests. He'd been dished them ever since he'd joined SHIELD and she decided he was worth conversing with every once in a while. She'd handled a lot of his mission debriefs and deployments. At first she thought he was a bit of an . . . well, the correct word for her opinion wasn't exactly fit for a PG audience. After a year, she'd gotten used to his peculiarities and began to see him as more of a comedic relief than a bitter, disgruntled agent.

If Natasha walked through that door a very different conversation was set to be had. Thor, in particular, was not to be spared her venomous intent. She often lectured the others about their cavalier recklessness. After all, Clint refused to wear a suit of armor beside the very-near bullet proof jacket Tony fashion for him. Sure the thing was heavy, it itched, and he sweat like a pig in it but he still wore it (when he couldn't avoid it) and that seemed to make the others a little more confident in his own survival. A bullet resistant coat was no match against Thor swinging his hammer into Clint's knee cap, though.

Thor seemed to watch the hall with the same sort of trepidation. His hand hovered, outstretched, with Clint's water bottle locked in his grip. Clint attempted to take it, though Thor wouldn't release it. Former Agent Hill appeared, and Thor visibly released a sigh. He laughed a little to himself and passed the water bottle over.

"Geez, Thor, a little terrified of something?" Clint asked, enjoying the feeling of holding something over the normally stoic Asgardian.

Thor straightening his dark overcoat a little. "Terrified? A son of Odin? I have never heard such fallacy."

Clint arched and eyebrow. He freed two aspirins from the bottle and popped them in his mouth. The rest he rolled onto the table. "Uh huh. Remind me of that when Nat gets here and you skitter off."

"Asgardians do not "skitter"."

"Oh, I've seen skittering," Hill admitted herself to the conversation. She dropped a file she carried onto the glass table beside Clint's foot. She indicated the ice. "Is it purple yet?"

"Last time I checked, it was blue." He lifted the pile of ice and gauged his own injury by her response. She curled her lip and offered an expression of gruesome interest. Like meeting a man with the world's largest boil, she zeroed in for a closer inspection. Tony sauntered over beside her.

"It kinda looks like Richard Nixon's chin," Tony said, "If it was smacked with a baseball bat."

"Thanks," Clint said, positioning the ice again.

Hill clapped Thor on the shoulder. "Well, you did it."

"A fact I feel I will be reminded of for the coming years." Thor replied. He sunk into the seat across from Clint and stared at the offended leg sadly.

"At the very least," Hill said. She reached into her pocket and withdrew a flash drive, which she added to the pile of forms she'd dropped off. Taking the seat Clint offered to her, she sank down beside the archer and pulled the paperwork onto her lap to go over it. "There have been three more sightings of high-activity HYDRA bases in the past week. None of them are proving to pan out very far, but there is one place in particular a hard contact of mine is zeroing in on. It's here."

Hill turned the paper around and displayed the photograph to Clint. He picked up one copy while Tony leaned down and grabbed another. The billionaire settled into his own chair and hiked one knee over the other as he considered the brick-laden compound.

"So far radiation scans have been clean, but there are occasional spikes of gamma waves we haven't seen since the tesseract left Earth," she went on.

Thor formed a fist and set his chin on it with his elbow perched on his knee. "It is your belief that the scepter has been found? Again? Has this not been the twentieth such false claim we have chased?"

"That's why I'm waiting for some harder data before I suggest moving in. Right now this is all just preliminary work up. But, it is promising."

"Where is this?" Clint asked, handing the photo back.

"Sokovia, Eastern Europe."

"See what pans out," Tony suggested. "I don't think Banner's in the mood to burn the green candlelight for a while. I think he'd like to hang around town and save some cats from trees or damsels in distress or something."

That reminded her. Hill grabbed the thumb drive one of the phone technicians handed to her, and passed it to Clint. She was beginning to explain its significance when Bruce rounded the corner from the lower level Stark assembly line. Life in the Tower was often like that. One conversation would start, a few Avengers might gather around the living room couches, and suddenly everyone would leak out of the wood work. Five or six different conversations would coalesce all at once, with Tony Stark starting first in one with Bruce, then switching his attention to Thor, and hearing a stray word he liked, might add something to a private talk between Barton and Natasha. Herding cats, someone once described it as. Keeping track of any dialogue in that room was nearly impossible.

"What am I not in the mood for?" Bruce asked, splintering the group talk.

Tony shrugged, sitting back in his chair. "Same old rousing games of patty-cake with the HYDRA goons. You know, throwing them through trees. Hitting them with trees. Hitting them with Hawkeye . . ."

Clint lifted his hands in an exasperated way. "Gee, thanks. Remind me of that one."

Bruce chuckled a little. He adjusted the glasses on the brim of his nose and nodded a hello to the others. "Did you break it?" he asked Clint.

"I didn't break anything!" Clint again defended, throwing an accusatory finger towards the thunderer. Thor hung his head, accepting the punishment.

"And I thought I was the one we had to watch out for." Bruce commented. He sneaked a glance beneath Clint's ice pack and winced.

Clint, in the meantime, realized he was holding a thumb drive. He looked over at Maria, allowing the other's to carry on the talk about his mortality without him. "What's this all about?"

Continuing their separate conversation, Maria said, "A lab tech downstairs all but begged me to give it to you. He even agreed to buy me lunch. I said it had to be Giuseppe's and must include a cannoli, and the guy agreed, so I figured it might be legit."

"Thor, I think this means you're springing for the next pizza, doesn't it Tony? Isn't that the rules after someone breaks Barton? You're also on green-power-smoothie detail as I remember." Bruce grinned. Clint had a few stipulations on what he required from the others as payments for their mistakes causing him bodily harm. Thor liked pizza, but had no real money to speak of and he detested the green shakes that Tony designed.

"Legit what?" Clint asked, Hill turning the drive over in his hands as if it might implode. Hill was just as suspicious as him. She'd never bring something up without clearing it for micro explosives.

Thor objected to the statement from Bruce. "I do not feel I must be subjected to your grass-infused drink merely to dispel my debt for an honest mistake."

Tony shot back, "It's weed grass, and Kiwi, and Starbucks offered me a half a million dollar deal to steal the recipe. I just happen to be holding out for more. Don't knock it just because you don't like the color green,"

Hill suddenly abandoned her side-talk to jump into Tony's conversation instead. Herding cats. "You seriously think adding kiwi makes it taste any less like grass?"

Clint tugged her elbow, forcing her attention back. He held up the device again. "Legit what? What did you hand me?"

She shrugged. "It's a phone recording of a woman. She called the Tower trying to get a hold of you specifically, but wouldn't say why. You know you get like two hundred of those per day? Usually it's just some Hero Humper looking for a good time, but this lab tech was fairly insistent for me to get it to you. I guess the transcript shook him up."

Clint looked at the drive for a time, considering what he should do with it while Tony berated Hill over her lack of good taste. In the past, Clint had entertained such calls from women. Some were fascinating to listen to, others downright disturbing. He bounced the thumb drive off his palm and let it skitter onto the table by his leg. Just one more woman in the sea out there hoping to grab him.

"She leave a name?" He asked, but wasn't sure why.

Overhearing part of the conversation, Tony snickered. "Probably left her number. Send her Bruce's way, I do believe it's been too long."

Bruce strode behind him and Vulcan-neck pinched his clavicle. Tony grunted and sank into his seat to avoid the one-handed onslaught.

Hill sorted through a few papers and came up with a transcribed version of the phone call. She glanced down the lines and read, "I think it was Laura? I'd have to double check it. It's here somewhere."

Beside her, Clint exploded. Abused knee forgotten, he scrambled to his feet and snatched the thumb drive off the table. The ice hit the floor in a splash so violent the cubes shook free and scattered across the plexi-glass and hardwood fusion. A broken cry pulled free from his lips when his knee took the weight of his body, but Clint didn't stop long enough for the limb to collapse on him. He shot across the room like a targeting laser and grabbed the hand rail for the stairs to help him get to the science twin's lab faster. He didn't stop, explain, or say anything more. He simply took off as if someone screamed "Air Raid!"

Behind him, the shocked teammates jostled to their feet. The questions came from a dozen places at once as they tried to understand how a simple name had transformed their friend instantly.

"Clint, what happened?!— Who is she?!— Let me help you!- Careful on that! - Thor, grab the door.—Hang on, let me plug it in.—Clint, who is Laura? –"

Clint waved them off of him, determined to clamor his way to the lab on his own steam. Adrenaline shot through him like a drug. He could hardly think straight. His one track mind was one step short of shutting the others out completely as he hobbled across the lab, yanked a lap top out—too hard—Tony was surely cringing over the sound it's casing made as it hit the lab bench, and shoved the rolling stool away. Bruce slipped in beside him and moved various glass implements away. Surely they cost more than one of Clint's arrows. In his current state, Clint might just smash them all, accidentally or not. His fingers clawed at the laptop lock until it finally sprang open and he forced the lid up. He shoved the thumb drive into its port and waited as the screen booted. A cold sweat broke out on the back of his neck, saturating his shirt collar against him. Nothing but years of intense training kept his hands rock steady.

Behind him, Tony and Hill exchanged a poignant glance. He hiked a thumb toward the door. "Get Cap," He ordered. Any other day she might remark at his authoritative tone, but not today. She rushed off instantly.

Clint's fingers flew against the keys, trying to type in Tony's complicated computer passcode accurately the fourth, fifth, then sixth try. His fist came down on the lab bench in utter frustration before Tony decided he could take it no longer and physically forced the archer aside to claim the computer for himself. Clint was talented with technology, a trait Stark never expected to find in the fellow Avenger who seemed happier to shoot things at a distance and direct the team's movements than play lab mate. In the state Barton was in, though, expecting him to formulate Bruc3L33R()cxsDJ4L1F3 accurately was simply too much to ask.

Clint unwillingly relented. He pushed away from the bench on took a few steps away, panting in his terror. He swiped the sweat from the back of his neck with one hand and moved down the line of complicated equipment. He stopped, bent over at the waist and felt his stomach churning in the back of his throat. His heart was pumping recklessly as the terror slammed through him. He gripped the end of the workbench in both hands. His mouth had gone bone dry.

"Clint?" Bruce tried again, keeping a little distance. "I'm guessing you know this girl?"

"It might not be her," Clint barked, trying to convince Bruce and himself in the same few words. He shook his head, reaching into his pocket to find his cell phone. "Can't be her. She would have called my cell and I don't have a single missed—"

 _"He—Hello? Hello, is this the Avenger's Tower?"_

Clint's heart plummeted like a falling elevator car. The phone slipped out of his hand and hit the workbench. His head lifted to watch the oscillating golden orb that was JARVIS vibrate with the tempo of the woman's voice. His throat felt tight as he attempted to breath.

 _"I need to speak to Clint Barton. Is he there? Please, tell him it's Laura and he'll understand. I need to speak to him! It's an emergency!"_

"Oh my God," He whispered. He moved around the bench and stood only a few inches from the glowing orb. Gingerly, he reached out to the light. Some part of him wondered that if he could feel the warmth of the woman's face beneath his finger tips. She was terrified, he could feel it in his bones and there was nothing he could do to console her.

The three souls around him watched the transition in their friend. This was a Clint Barton they had never before witnessed. He was transfixed, listening to the playback and watching JARVIS's system oscillate before his eyes. They'd never heard Clint speak of the woman in the past, or why she must mean so much to him now.

 _"You don't understand! I need him, I need Clint. If you can hear me, please. Please, it's Laura! Something's happened. Something terrible! Can't you understand, I need to hear him?!"_

"I'm right here!" He said, but suddenly forgot it was a recording. He looked around frantically for his cell phone. Bruce seemed to understand and handed him the device instantly. Clint snatched it up and punched the screen to life with multiple jabbing fingers. The line connected and he held the phone up to his ear, willing the voice on the other side to appear.

 _"Clint! Clint, please!"_

"Answer. Answer, Laura. Pick up. Pick up," Clint chanted. He had to turn away from the golden light. His eyes flashed up to the others but rapidly turned away. There was no way for them to understand the importance of what was happening. He'd never spoken of her, of his life, to them before. If they'd known, perhaps they'd be reacting differently. There was one person who he could rely on and he could just see her sprinting toward the lab beside Steve. The door sprung open for Steve and Natasha. Hill returned behind them to watch the scene play out and see if she might be needed. Clint waved Natasha over at once and she pushed her way through the others.

The woman on the recording suddenly screamed.

Natasha placed her hand on his arm, and two troubled blue horizons met hers. His desperation mounting, Clint rapidly spoke into his phone. "Laura? Laura, it's me, answer the phone. Answer the phone! I need you to pick—Laura? Laura?!" He pulled the phone away and rapidly re-dialed the number. To Natasha he demanded, "Did she call you? Tell me she tried!"

Natasha shook her head.

"Listen to it. Tell me what you think." He motionedfor Tony to replay the recording, which he did.

Watching the scene take place, Steve strode inside a little more. He asked Bruce what exactly was going on, and the doctor leaned in to give up the only information they'd been made privy too. Someone Clint knew called the Tower's main line for help and it sounded serious. The rest Steve could listen to himself as Tony replayed the message. If Clint's reaction had been any different, he might have suggested the local police be called to get on seen ahead of them, but something, he wasn't sure what it might be, brought him to a pause. If someone Clint knew had been involved in a serious situation, enough to make them call him personally, it might be a set up.

Natasha listened to the call with an agent's impartiality and the benefit of having a personal relationship with the woman no one else knew existed. After the recording ended the second time, she felt firm enough in her assessment to state, "That's not her voice."

"I know it's not her voice! It's Stacy's voice, she carpools the kids to school," Clint snapped back as if it was the most basic things in the world. The voice mail on the other end of his phone line clicked on again and he pleaded with the future listener. "Laura? It's me, look, I need you to call me right now. I'm serious about this. Lila, if you have mommy's phone, I need you to give it back. I need to speak to mommy. Laura?" Clint strode away from the others and continued to berate the absentee voicemail he was trapped speaking to. His knees felt weak under the onslaught of his emotions and he collapsed down onto the tiered flooring. There wasn't enough aspirin in the world to make him forget what Thor had accidentally done to his knee, but he would suffer whatever he had to if it meant his family was in danger. The voice message ran out of space and he was forced to hang up. He looked defeatedly at the others.

"Laura would have called my phone, not the Stark line." He told them. "Someone get Fury on the line. He might know something. Maybe he was there. I don't know who else to call."

Maria extracted her own cell phone and cruised down the numbers to find Nick Fury's new mobile line. She attempted to hand it to him but Clint waved her away. He was still trying to get Laura. Natasha snapped her fingers and took the phone from Hill instead. She nodded a little at Clint, hoping to inspire some confidence in him. She pushed the computer in front of Stark a little more.

"See if you can clean that up. I want to hear everything in the background."

"Can I ask why?" He asked, already setting to it.

"No." Natasha paced back and forth with Maria's phone pressed against her face. Fury's line went instantly to voice mail. She offered a Russian curse under her breath and shook her head at Clint.

"You try calling Laura," Clint suggested, handing her his phone. He stood, wincing at his stiff leg. "Tony, replay it again. The beginning. When was this time stamped?" He flipped his wrist and looked at his watch.

"Clint, tell us what's going on," Steve said. Beside him the entire team looked at the archer with mixtures of anticipation and worry. They could feel the keen terror he was attempting, and failing, to keep in check. Obviously he was connected to this woman, whatever her name was, and the fact that she may be in serious danger meant Clint would want to help her. That was a team matter.

"I—I don't know." He said honestly, raising his arms and letting them drop. He looked like a defeated man torn ragged by emotion like a flag left out in a typhoon. "Stacy, she runs the carpool, and Fury did the complete check on her personally when we decided to let the kids into regular school. I mean, Cooper was getting older, and it was too much to ask Laura to just take care of them alone when she still wanted to work from home. All their friends were starting too and . . ."

Clint stopped, realizing nothing he was trying to say made sense to them. He gripped the work bench again. If he'd been Thor, he might have ground the metal into flecks of dust in his hands. After having some time to gather himself, he finally said, "I haven't been totally honest with any of you but that doesn't matter right now. Laura is my wife. I know my wife's voice and that is not it. Stacy doesn't know much of anything about me. I've only met her twice and I never gave her any of my emergency contact numbers. If something happened to my family, my children, and she wanted to get in contact with me, she could only do it through calling Stark Tower. But why Laura didn't call me herself, I . . . I don't know. I just don't know. My wife, my son, my little girl, and my baby are in danger. If something's happened to them, then God-help the people that did it."

He folded his arms over his chest and stared them down like a drill sergeant. "Look, every single one of you owes me something. I've fought and bled for this team. You're all helping me find them, so suit up."

* * *

OMG, you go clint:)

Coming up: Tony nearly has a meltdown, Thor becomes an adorable cupcake, and a bullet hole

Please review! you know it makes me post faster;)


	3. Chapter 2

THANK YOU TO:::

All my guests! Archt, natashgriz, FFegni, halfshapechildfan, Aini NuFire, Casey Storm, Niom Lamboise, amy. .9, Roses in May, IWriteSinsOrTragedies, m klindt, Qweb

(one random) Guest: Oops, bad me forgetting Grumpy Cat was a female.

WestonFollower: AW! Thank you! I work hard to keep in=character so to speak:)

Ms. Hawkeye: Emotional wreck? Oh...oh yes. That's happening.

Jewls58: Welcome to the family! it's gonna get bumpy:)

discordchick: Never thought THor would be a stand-out star in this, but he keeps popping up waving his hand going "pick me!" so here...we..go:)

8839: YAY! hope you like it, I'm excited to see where this goes.

* * *

 **Avenge Me**

Chapter 2

Thor pulled up to a stop and forwent a soft landing to crash right into the grassy hill on one knee with Stark mirroring his stance just beside them. Tony blinked twice into the corner sensor of his heads up display and the faceplate for his mask opened and peeled back. He looked around with his naked eyes.

"Do you believe this to be the place?" Thor asked, standing and considering the area. He gripped his hammer in one hand. Everything on first glance seemed quiet.

Clint described the area as a quiescent, white, farm house with a wrap-around front deck. There were a few outbuildings, including a barn, and an old truck in the driveway beside Laura's black Volvo, if it was around.

"Looks like it," Tony replied. He brought his arm up and checked the virtual map that hovered over his right gauntlet. Clint had given them precise coordinates to go off of. The satellite data was, surprisingly, non-existent. Somehow Nick Fury had created a vacuum of information in this little spot of planet Earth. When they found him again, Tony was adamant on discovering out exactly how the former SHIELD Director did that.

"Shall we?" Thor headed off down the hill toward the main house.

"We better sweep the whole place before Clint gets in. If we find something, it might be better for us to soften the blow." Tony dropped his face plate again and scanned the area with his HUD. In another feat of curiosity, he discovered seeing through the home's walls wasn't even possible. They'd been internally lined with some polymer impervious to three dimensional radar scans. "This place is a fortress."

"Our friend prefers his privacy. It does not surprise me that he would go to great lengths to preserve his happiness here," Thor said.

"Privacy means you don't share your favorite coffee and hoard it in your room instead. This is something else. I mean, you don't have a wife and almost three kids hiding back on Asgard do you?"

"I do not," Thor replied.

"Well there you go."

They moved around the small gate that separated the fields and trees from the main yard, and headed up the drive. Tony swept two fingers to the right, and Thor peeled off instantly. They'd sweep the outer buildings first, and then move their way inside the house. Tony circled around the left of the home. He closed in on the two abandoned cars. The Volvo had a set of keys on the front dashboard and a wallet in the center console. No one inside, though. He tried the door. It came open. He reached in, grabbed the wallet, and managed to work it open with his armor on.

"Well, hello Mrs. Barton," he said to himself as the woman's face reflected back at him through the holographic state driver's license.

"Stark?" Thor's voice came through his comm.

"Nothing yet, just a wallet."

"The same here. The building is empty."

"Circle around the back, I'll check the truck and we'll go in from there."

Tony left the wallet on the front seat and continued back to the truck. It was an old, heavy diesel. At one time it may have been used to tow farm equipment, but now it was purposed as little more than a lawn ornament. The hood was propped open, its rusted engine parts left bare for the elements.

"Tsk, Tsk, Barton. Take better care of your toys," He whispered to himself. Tony checked the cab and the bed only to find them as eerily empty as everything else in the place. He tapped his comm and double checked that it was on a two-way relay system only. If Clint was listening before, which undoubtedly he had been, he was officially shut out the minute Thor and Tony hit the family farmlands.

"Thor, I don't like this," Tony said, sweeping the rest of the house's exterior buildings. He could see the Asgardian approaching him from the other side of the property.

"Myself either. There is something strangely concerning here. I cannot place my apprehension on any particular entity, but nonetheless it affects me."

"I'll take the back. You circle around front and we'll meet in the center of the first floor. Then we'll move up."

Thor tipped him hammer, acknowledging the words. He spun his weapon in a simple, speedy arc, and flew to the other side of the house. Tony took a steadying breath to prepare himself for whatever he might find inside, and slowly stepped up to the back porch. He had to stop almost instantly. The doorpost was marred in pencil and pen marks of at least three different colors. Sharpie hearts danced along a few of the hash marks along with what Tony recognized at once as Clint's handwriting.

 _February 15, 2009, 3'1". Cooper. Smiley face._

 _March 29, 2010, 2'4". Lila. Three hearts._

 _May 20, 2012, 3'4". Lila. Two hearts, and maybe a picture of a kitten._

 _The next line above it was Cooper again._

The May 20th date was from only days after the attack on New York. Clint had left to finish a mission, clear up paperwork or something. Tony never really asked where the Avenger had gone. Instead, Stark jumped into his own car with Bruce riding shotgun and blasted off for home. Clint must have driven here with Natasha. Maybe she dropped him off on her way wherever it was she went and maybe she stayed here with Barton during those trying months after the shock of the near war settled in.

The sight of Clint's personal touch along that well-worn door post suddenly made everything Tony did now very real. This wasn't some cover, or made up family. Clint was a father. These two children who were growing day by day were his and Clint was doing everything he could, even sending the Avengers themselves, out to check on them.

"Stark, are you ready?" Thor had said something a minute ago, which Tony missed responding to. The Asgardian must have been anxious. Tony tried to shake off the haunting feeling of the growth chart and got his head back into search and destroy mode.

"Yeah, I'm good. My mark. Mark!"

They breached the house simultaneously.

Tony stole through the back door, sweeping left instantly as he hugged the wall of kitchen cabinets. He dropped low, scanned the room with his gauntlet extended, and waited to see if something came crashing or shooting at him. Nothing came. He raised a little and swiveled his head around to take in the general chaos he'd stumbled into. Clint's fears were founded, at least. The place had been completely tossed. Cabinet doors hung loosely on one hinge with their contents spilled all over the kitchen floor. The table was overturned, one leg fractured with flesh-tone wood exposed. Only a single chair survived.

The metal suited Avenger followed the closest wall and entered the next room. It was a dining room in a similar state of distress. He hoped Clint's wife wasn't too attached to the family dishes. There wasn't much left of them.

He looked over a half-wall and saw Thor making his way around a staircase. The Asgardian gave him a short nod. Tony pointed to the staircase and lifted his thumb skyward. Thor repeated the gesture and adjusted his grip on Mjolnir. Silently they made their way up the stairs, bypassing the shattered glass of Clint's family photos. Tony couldn't help sneaking a glance at them as Thor led him up.

Laura Barton had long, dark hair and a smile like a sunrise. Her arms were draped around the neck of the young boy, Cooper, who grinned in an absent-tooth way into the camera. A little copper-haired girl hung over Laura's shoulder with her shy face buried into her mother's arm. The next picture was just Cooper with a baseball bat over his shoulder and a number 14 jersey on. Lila came next, dressed in a purple tutu with, of all things, a plastic replica of Thor's hammer in one hand with a stuffed floppy-eared dog in the other. Tony noticed that none of the photos contained Clint himself. Maybe he thought of it as a way to protect them.

They reached the top of the stairs and split up to their respective sides. Tony flanked right, scanned as many rooms as he could, and cleared them in quick succession. The same level of disarray he noted in the lower floor continued here. Lila's room was almost completely destroyed. Drawers were yanked out of the dresser and smashed against the floor. Clothes littered the place. Pictures and posters had been torn off the walls and the mattress flipped. Whoever thrashed the place was looking for something and they stopped at nothing to try and find it.

"Stark!"

Tony moved instantly when Thor's voiced called out. He blew through the open door way and thundered up the hall. It was a sharp turn into the parent's room, but he pulled up to a stop almost instantly at Thor's back.

A pool of blood coated the floor boards a few feet from the off kilter king-sized mattress. The blood had clotted long ago, the liquid turning as cold and dead as surely the person who produced it had. Tony swallowed the lump in his throat and moved in around Thor's body. The Asgardian looked around the room again, but found nothing more amiss beside the general plunder which appeared throughout the home.

Tony stooped down and touched a finger into the blood pool. JARVIS set to analyzing the sample as he scanned the room a second time for himself.

"It is a considerable sum, is it not?" Thor asked quietly.

"Whoever it came from isn't going to be breathing still, if that's what you're getting at," Tony affirmed. His eyes traced up the wall to his left and he noted the blood spatter that his HUD highlighted. A circular pattern emerged over five feet off the ground. "Head shot, I think." He stood and analyzed the center of the red splatter. A decent caliber bullet lodged into the wall where he searched.

"Do you believe it may be . . ."

Tony turned to see Thor's expression as his voice trailed off. They were in parent's bedroom, after all. The shot was too high for one of the children. It was more likely than not Laura Barton met her end here. Perhaps they'd taken the children. To what end they couldn't hope to guess until Clint arrived.

"The kids, her body, I don't get it. What were they looking for? What could he keep here that anyone would want? Do you think this might just be about us?" Tony accessed the panel on his suit and unlocked it from his body to step out of the armor. He was beginning to feel claustrophobic inside it. Apparently no one was home, and the need to remain in his iron suit had passed.

"Do you think his family has been brutalized merely because we search for Loki's scepter?" Thor asked, flabbergasted.

"Bad guys aren't called bad guys because they play by the rules. We need to keep our options open." He headed to the nearby desk and snooped through a few of the available papers there. "I think it's a good idea to keep Clint out of here for now until JARVIS can determine where the blood came from."

"I agree with the assessment. I think I shall take another look at the perimeter. He seemed to believe their friend was the recipient of some foul blow. I may be able to find her."

"That's a good idea. Look for a car on the roadway—" Tony looked up from the few letters and envelopes addressed to the Bartons and meant to focus on Thor. Instead, he noticed something standing just behind the large Asgardian which pulled him up short. His mouth hung open a little and he dropped down to one knee very slowly.

"Whoa, easy there kid," he said quietly.

Thor took a step into the bedroom, allowing him to turn without being trapped in the door frame. He saw at once a small, pigtailed child with her thumb tucked up by her mouth in a Rapunzel nightdress. Her wide eyes were brimmed in tears that threaten to fall.

"No, no, no, don't do the water works!" Tony exclaimed, inching closer. "It's ok, really! I'm Tony, you know? Iron Man? See, I've got the suit and everything right here. And this is Thor. Clint—Hawk—I mean, your dad sent us to come and check on you."

Little Lila Barton didn't give the introduction half a second to sink in. With a child's cry on her lips, she covered the distance between Thor and herself and glommed a hold of the Avenger's leg. Full of sympathy for the little girl, and desperate to keep her attention away from the shocking blood pool, Thor snatched her up in his arms and walked back into the hallway with her. Lila melted against his chest, sobbing loudly.

Tony didn't like children in general. It wasn't that there was any particular child in his past that set him against the entire hoard, he simply never thought of himself as good with kids. Seeing the daughter of his fellow Avenger crying inconsolably into Thor's rocking arms brought a peculiar nobility and fatherhood he never expected to experience in his life. It forced him out of the master bedroom, and made him close the door behind himself. He crossed over to where Thor stood, trying to soothe the child, and Tony set his own hand on her small back.

"Hey, it's ok," he told her quietly. "You're dad's on his way. He's coming to get you, and everything's going to be just fine." Tony couldn't believe he was referring to Clint Barton as "dad" but he'd gotten used to the idea now that the product was sitting before his very eyes. Thor looked imploringly at Tony as Lila continued to cry.

"We should take her from this place. It is not fit for an heir to see her home so defiled. I will not allow her to return to this state until justice sees it is made complete again. The man that has done this will find no mercy from me if I find so much as a hair on this child's head has been disturbed." The Asgardian said, booking no room for argument.

Tony agreed, fearing the sudden wrath Thor welled with. "I'll call Clint to let him know we have her. You go out. I'm going to search the boy's room just in case there isn't another one of these kids hiding out on us. I'll sweep the area for the . . . you know."

Thor needed no addition to know Tony referred to the poor woman, Stacy, whom was most likely injured or taken as well. Leaving Stark to it, Thor descended the staircase with Lila in his arms. He wasn't letting the child go, not until he could pass her directly into the arms of her father.

* * *

Protective Tony/Thor? more please:)

Coming up (might take a bit, moving to another state this weekend): Bun Bun and Clint learns the value of friends

Please review!


	4. Chapter 3

THANK YOU TO:::

All my guests!, Daughter of the North, icanhearthedrums, Casey Storm, AvengerOfFiction, penguincrazy, natashgriz, m klindt, Aini NuFire, FFegni, DatNatCatThoe, amy. .9, 8839, discordchick, ParkerAlexis88, Niom Lamboise, Wonderwomanbatmanfan, Ms. Hawkeye, IWriteSinsOrTragedies, ozhawk

WestonFollower(yup, she's got a bun in the oven:)

Death is inevitable (dear, sweet Jesus. I can't WAIT for you to read my Hawkeye series:)

ShadowPhoenix22 (AWE! Thank you!)

bunnrk (you made my day:)

jensmit75 (i shed a little tear at that. Thank you very, very much!)

ThePenguinApocalypse (I make no promises that everyone will live)

* * *

 **Avenge Me**

Chapter 3

Clint Barton had to fly the plane. He didn't see any other option. It was either that or continue to pace in the hull with every Avenger in spitting distance commanding him to sit down, relax, think about the positives, or convince him nothing at all was wrong. Everyone heard the recording. Even if it wasn't Clint's wife who'd contacted him in final desperation, Stacy was still nearly family. He didn't want to talk, or to explain, or even face their shocked expressions when it all came tumbling out.

Clint had a secret family. There. As far as he was concerned that was all they needed to know. Natasha understood better, and so he left the particulars to her. He wasn't feeling particularly talkative himself.

Stacy Belmont was the mother of Clint's son, Cooper's, school friend. She'd offered to drive the kids into school together numerous times in the past, especially seeing as Clint's wife was getting more pregnant by the day. Clint didn't exactly trust anyone, not even the Avengers team, with something as precious as his family. When Fury gave him the all clear on Stacy, it still took him four weeks of following the poor woman before he actually allowed Cooper to ride in the car with her. His wife called him paranoid, and she was perfectly right.

If any trouble befell the Barton home while Clint was away, they had procedures in place to manage it. A storm shelter in the barn served as safety from most natural disasters. He had four emergency phones hidden all over the house, each was programmed with his private line speed dialed in. Even his youngest knew where they were and how to use them.

He glanced at the silent cell phone sitting in his lap. Still nothing. No ring, vibrate, message tone, nothing. It was simply useless without some part of his family reaching out to him.

Jaw grinding, his eyes returned to the low visibility ahead of them. It took little more than an hour to reach his safe house via Aven-jet. He'd cut that time in half in what had become the most knuckle-whitening trip for Banner, Natasha, and Steve. Hill elected, given the information, to stay behind should someone again contact the Tower a second time. Thor and Tony were the fastest of the bunch. They could reach the farm first, scout the area, and report back before the jet ever hit the ground. The trouble was, neither of them decided to check in. Less than fifteen minutes out, and he constantly double checked the radio frequency to make sure he hadn't missed something. Either they'd flown into a war zone and an EMP was dropped on the place, or Tony had cut him out of the communication circuit. He wasn't sure whether to be broiling mad or grateful.

Clint's fingers tightened on the steering yoke. He could sense Steve's eyes on his back. The Captain questioned Natasha the most, loud enough for Clint to hear and offer his own replies if he'd been inclined to. There was little Natasha left out.

Laura was his wife. They'd met during his SHIELD days and when things got serious, Fury set them up a safe house. She wanted to switch careers, work from home as a clinical radiologist. She'd been Clint's doctor for long enough. Now the country at large sent her all their specialized images for her attuned eye to scrutinize. It gave her the time, and freedom, she wanted to have children. Cooper was their first. He was getting closer to ten every day. Lila, Clint's little doll, was five. She'd lost a tooth three days ago. Clint sent Laura a Hungarian coin to put under her pillow. Long ago they'd agreed their tooth fairy was a little more exotic than most.

The more Clint thought of his kids and heard the scream of Stacy Belmont echo in his mind, the harder he wanted to push the jet. He didn't know what he was going to do if his family was missing. Hopefully, this was all a big misunderstanding like Bruce insisted to Natasha. If Banner truly believed that, he would have stayed home and not risked letting the Hulk loose at Clint's private farmhouse. It was a testament to his sincerity and friendship that he'd decided to tag along. But even all of Bruce's optimism couldn't survive the minute the radio cackled to life and Tony finally decided to report in.

 _"Hey, it's Tony, someone pick up the line."_

Clint's hand snapped out and hit the overhead before anyone else could move. "Tell me what's going on! Is Laura there? Are my kids ok?"

 _"Thor's holding your little girl right now. She's scared, and she wants you, but I think she's ok. I hope she's ok, 'cause if she's not, you've gotta get in line behind the big guy for tearing the perps in half. I'll be honest, he's scaring me a little."_

Bruce strode up behind the archer and leaned on the back of his seat. "That's good news you found her! What about the others? Did you find Stacy?"

 _"No sign of her but something's screwing with my sensors. Is Clint flying right now?"_

Bruce glanced down at Barton.

"Yeah, Stark I am. We're ten minutes out. Are you going to tell me about my wife and son, are not?!" Clint growled.

There was a pause. Steve and Natasha came up behind Bruce, waiting for the answer they were already beginning to anticipate. When Tony found the courage to admit that neither of the two could be found, Clint's entire body became as rigid as a marble statue. Bruce shifted away a little to let Natasha in closer. She knelt down beside him, fixing her hand over his bicep as he wordlessly piloted them closer and closer to home.

:(:):(:):

The plane was hardly on the ground before Clint ripped himself away from the controls and sprinted for the back hatch. No one tried to slow him down. The minute the ramp lowered, he shot out of the jet and rushed across the grassy hill for where Thor stood by his front gate. He could see Lila in the big Asgardian's grip. The minute she turned around, she began to scream for him.

"Daddy! Daddy!" She cried. Her face was swollen and red from her tears. Thor handed her off instantly and Clint squeezed her against his chest.

"Baby girl, oh my God! Are you ok? Lila, talk to me, honey, did anyone hurt you?" He whispered into her hair, unable to hold back the damp tears filling his eyelids. Clint's bruised knee offered a good enough excuse to simply collapse into the grass, dragging his little girl into his lap where he rocked her against his body.

Thor dropped down beside him in concern. Clint looked up into his face.

"Thank you," he said firmly, trying to show how much he meant it.

"No thanks is necessary, my friend. It was my honor." Thor shook his head a little. His arms felt strange and empty without the child clinging to him.

From behind them, Tony jogged over from the front porch. He waved a hand over his head to direct the other Avengers toward where they assembled. He looked down at Clint and the child.

"She's all right, isn't she?" He asked. "We checked, I mean, but she didn't want to talk to us. She just wanted you. I can understand why."

"She's just shy. She's like that. She needs her bunny," Clint replied, continuing to rock the girl against him. Her sobbing had lessened now that her father's arms held her but she still refused to look up or speak.

Thor smiled a little. "Her bunny? Might I ask where it may be found? I should like to retrieve it, I think."

"It's not actually a rabbit. She thought it was when she was younger and we just went with it. It's actually her stuffed dog. I don't know where—Lila? Lila, where's Bun Bun? It's Friday isn't it? Did you take Bun Bun to show and tell again today?"

Clint felt the girl's head nod into his chest.

"Did you leave Bun Bun at school?"

The pig tails swayed back and forth as she projected a sturdy "no".

Clint looked up from his inquisition to see Natasha and the others jogging up to them. To Lila he whispered, "Hey, look, Aunty Nat is here. Do you want to talk to Aunty Nat?"

Lila's fingers dug a little harder into his shirt. She wasn't moving, not even for her favorite grown up friend.

"She's ok," Clint told Natasha. "She wants Buns. It might be in her room, I'm not really sure. I should go look for him. She'll calm down if she has him."

Tony patted her back a little. "Don't worry about it, I'll go find him. I think I saw a picture of it inside. Long brown ears? Tan body?"

Clint nodded hollowly.

Tony curled a finger toward Steve and invited him along. The two cut off for the house, leaving the others behind. He was pretty sure the girl had been camped out under her bed when the Avengers combed through the house. He'd start there first. Mostly, though, he wanted Steve's opinion on how to show Clint the bloodstains on the Master Bedroom floor without the archer losing his mind. Steve was good at cushioning blows like that. Tony wasn't, and Thor most definitely was not. For better or worse, the large Asgardian was more enamored with the child than solving their missing person's case, leaving the opportunity for him to spill the beans as a relatively low risk.

Natasha watched them head off together, suspecting something deeper amiss than what Tony let on. She'd look into that personally. In the meantime, the toe of her boot connected with Thor's leg to gain his attention.

"Did anyone check the storm shelter in the barn?" She asked.

"I looked into the building myself, I knew of no shelter." He admitted, sheepishly. He rose to his feet and lifted his hammer. "Lead on, I will follow. Perchance the rest of this family will be safely harbored there."

"Has anyone found the woman?" Bruce asked before they headed out of earshot. Thor indicated they hadn't. "I'll take a poke around up the roadway and see what I can come across. I think we all agreed she was probably driving her car when, well, whatever it was happened."

The others agreed to the plan, and they separated. Before he walked toward the drive, Bruce paused at Clint's side. He touched the Avenger's shoulder gently.

"Hey, if you want me to take a look at her or anything. I mean, you know I'm not an actual medical doctor, but I can help if she needs it."

Clint looked as if he might just let the tears he'd restrained crest down his cheek. After having all but forced the team to do as he asked, or else, he hadn't expect this much enthusiasm out of them. Seeing Thor consoling his little girl, Tony and Captain searching his home for a stuffed dog, and Bruce eager and willing to walk a few miles on foot in search of a missing car pool driver affected him greatly. He thanked the scientist, and Bruce headed out to look around.

Clint sat on the ground with Lila in his arms, trusting that for once he didn't have to go instantly running around the entire property on his own. He had an entire team at his back. In fact, they'd covered so much of what he'd planned to do, that Clint was left with only one job. He was allowed to just be a father.

* * *

DaddyHawk at his finest.

Coming up: Where Tony claims his right to rule Asgard, and the investigation begins

Please review!


	5. Chapter 4

THANK YOU TO:::

Angel666, m klindt, FFegni, penguincrazy, Wonderwomanbatmanfan, Aini NuFire, Casey Storm, ParkerAlexis88, Alex C, ShadowPhoenix22, IWriteSinsOrTragedies, ThePenguinApocalypse, discordchick

WestonFollower (thank you very much! I'm loving Thor in this!)

AvengerOfFiction (i live on the tears of readers)

LeanneDaseyLover(relatively ok, LOL) Jessica xx

Liliththestormgoddess(i was so in shock the first time i saw it, that i had to see it again to absorb all the details of their home. I'm totally happy with it now:)

Barton-Lover (i had my own stuffed bun bun, total self-insert there)

.ROX (aw thank you!)

amy. .9, Niom Lamboise

grishma239 (why thank you!)

8839 (wait no longer!)

Roses in May (yay! let me know all of your anticipations and guesses:)

Ms. Hawkeye (hahahahahahaha)

DatNatCatThoe (well...)

Daughter of the North (reward reviews? me? ALWAYS!)

* * *

 **Avenge Me**

Chapter 4

Steve paused in the doorway with the screen door propped on his back, and surveyed the destruction in the home. Tony had already made off for the staircase, but paused when he noticed the captain wasn't following him. He turned a little.

"I know it's bad. Clint doesn't. I didn't want to try and describe it on the radio line." Tony looked dejectedly at the wanton wreckage. Despite having never been in the home before, it wasn't difficult to see that not one thing was left in its proper place.

The old captain took a few cautionary steps inside. He placed his boots carefully, attempting to avoid aiding to the destruction around them. Tony waited for him to catch up and lead the captain up to the second floor. Lila's room was the last in a line of doors on the right. The entry was still hanging as open as it could with the white chest of drawers tossed on its side behind it. Tony squeezed himself inside first. Steve was a more difficult fit, but he eventually pushed through.

"Not a lot of places for a girl to hide, but if she wanted to," Tony pointed a finger at the closet, then the off-kilter box spring. "I'd look there. If she likes the stuffed dog-rabbit enough, she was probably hiding with it."

Steve crossed the room for the bed first. He heard a crunch as his foot slipped over a pile of clothing, and regretfully lifted his foot again. Tony nudged the clothes aside.

"Bad news, Cap. That's seven years bad luck. Actually, fourteen seeing as it's a little kid's mirror. I hope you're ashamed," Tony jested.

"This entire place is a death trap now. Did you sweep for booby traps?" Steve asked.

"I wouldn't trust anything my tech's saying as far as perimeter scans. Something's interfering with a lot of my internal processes. I left the suit in stasis a few rooms down. It's analyzing something Thor found. I want you to look at it before we let Clint inside."

Steve leaned down and lifted the end of the child-sized bed straight up. As Tony suspected, the long-bodied, stuffed dog was sitting against the back wall. Just beside it, was a plastic replica of Thor's hammer and even a winged helmet. Tony gathered up all three while Steve held up the bed. Once he was clear, Steve lowered the frame back to the floor.

"I figured if Clint had any Avengers stuff, it would be bows and arrows," Steve remarked with a little smile.

"He might." Tony worked his way to the window and shuffled the glass back and forth a little to free up the frame. It slid upward harshly, giving just enough space for him to poke his head out at Thor and Natasha. They had just left the barn.

"Hey, catch these!" Tony called out.

Thor jogged over, opening his hands as Bun Bun and the miniature helmet came dropping toward him. He stared at the replica in surprise, and looked back up to see Tony holding the miniature Mjolnir.

"I pick up the hammer, then I'm worthy to rule Asgard, right?" Tony asked.

Thor gave him a wry look, but caught the child's toy as it fell toward him.

Tony retreated into the room again and closed the window. He indicated the hallway, and the Captain headed out ahead of him. "Ok, so Thor and I searched the house together. And then, once the girl found us, he went out, and I dug a little deeper. Didn't find anyone else. No bullet holes, no blood stains, no drag marks, nothing in particular on the surface, but I didn't want to start moving things until more of us were around. There are a bunch of tire marks kicked up out there that I got a good look at after I hovered over the roof for a while. The only physical evidence that anyone else was here, is this."

Tony cut in front of the Captain to indicate the correct room. He jostled the handle, and the door swung inward. He moved back to let Steve have an uninterrupted look around.

"Estimated height, according to my scans, is 5'9", maybe taller. Apparently Clint's wife's an Amazon. Single gunshot wound, as far as I can tell, to the skull. I dug the bullet out, scanned through it and the surrounding wall tissue. Scans show brain matter, skull fragments, and - "

"Basically, someone got shot in the head and didn't survive it," Steve cut him off. He kneeled down by the crescent of blood and hovered his hand just above it. His eyes went up to the bullet hole, then around to the rest of the space.

"Well, fine, yes."

"What can you tell me about the victim? Is it Stacy or Clint's wife?"

"I ruled out the babysitter. When Fury back-rounded her, he put her DNA on the internet, pretty much. She's not a match to this."

"What about Laura?"

Tony folded his arms. Steve could see the concern he had there. In Stark's mind, there was no doubt it belonged to Laura, but he attempted to convince himself out of it scientifically. "This is Fury _and_ Clint we're talking about. According to life online, there is no such person as a Laura Barton. I have nothing to compare to until I find some sample from her here. You find a hair brush or toothbrush, you let me know."

Steve left the DNA things to the science twins. It was a simple concept to grasp, but he had a lot of "simple" concepts to grasp these days. Like the fifty-three different types of toilet paper, the lack of polio, and cell phones. He moved past the complication to analyze the room a little better.

Given the level of chaos, he expected more than one person had ransacked the house and took the family hostage. There were a few scuff marks on the floor on the outer rim of the blood stain. He rubbed his finger against one, and brought the scent up to his nose.

Rubber. Thick, heavy stuff, like he'd smelled all his life in military barracks. Work boots. A strange mark peaked out from beneath a flannel shirt on the floor. He moved it aside a little to look. There was a shoe print. It was small, and decidedly not a work boot. Laura's? Stacy's? Steve wondered.

He worked his way along the foot trail for two or three steps before the outline of the left shoe disappeared against the hardwood. The clothing piles and a dresser drawer had covered the trail. Not wanting to disturb anything, Tony had missed them.

"Shooting happened before they tossed the place. I don't know whose print this is, but they got the blood on their shoe before the guy finished bleeding out. Explains why there's no print in the pool," Steve said, glancing up. He might not completely understand DNA analysis, but tracking was a quality he had great expertise in.

"So they shot her first, is what you're saying?" Tony asked.

"I think so. Maybe she wouldn't talk."

"There's an upward angle on the bullet hole." Tony tapped the gauntlet to his independent Iron Man suit, and extracted a laser target from a metal clasp. He fit the blunt end by the hole, and the laser sight toward the hall door. The red light shone off the floor boards a considerable distance away.

Steve stood up, and crossed in front of the sight. He held out his hands as if they might be holding a weapon, and crouched down to line up with the bullet hole. "Did you find gun powder in here?"

"I smelled it when we walked in," Tony nodded. "Haven't had time to do any sampling. I wanted to wait for Bruce, or see if Clint wanted us to bring in the local P.D."

"If the shot happened in here, then the shooter had to have been shorter and firing up. Otherwise they were on their belly down the hall. What kind of bullet was it?"

"9mm." Tony picked the metal jacket up off the desk, and spanned the blood pool with his arm to pass it to the captain. Steve took it and moved the metal around in his palm. "Can you say what kind of gun it came from?"

"Mine."

Tony and Steve both turned to see Clint standing in the doorway. He had a look of murder on his face, which swiftly smoothed over the minute he realized he was in the company of others. He adjusted his shoulders, releasing a crackle from his joints. He took a deep breath, and stepped inside with them.

"It's too high," he said when he finally calmed. He sent a curt move to the blood spatter on the wall. "My wife's shorter than that, five-three actually. She was the shooter. She used my gun. She had time to get it out of my locked cabinet in the closet, find the bullets in the locked cabinet downstairs, then load it, cock it, and use it. She knew someone was coming. Someone warned her."

His piercing blue eyes fell on Tony. Though, on the surface, he seemed calm, Stark could see a fire burning behind his superficial show. Tony had been there once when Pepper was taken from him. Clint had the potential of flying off the handle and going rogue, if they didn't keep a close eye on him.

"How's your daughter?" Steve asked. Tony was happy the captain thought of it. Giving Clint someone in the present to focus on might curb any cowboy antics he'd internally planned.

Clint's guard dropped a little. "She's ok. She still didn't want to say anything to me, and I didn't want to push. Nat found something in the barn, but I wanted to come up here first."

"Does Natasha have her?"

"Thor, actually." A ghost of a smile found its way to Clint's face. For a brief moment, the grief he tried desperately to hide followed it. "He's her . . . you know, kids like to pick favorites sometimes. Laura said it's Thor's hair. Reminded her of this Barbie doll I bought her for her birthday last year. Hey, don't tell him that, though. So, he's her favorite Avenger. She's a daddy's girl, but for some reason she thinks I'm a firefighter." The smile came back again.

Preferring to keep Clint focused on more positive things, Steve kept him talking, hoping to ease the conversation to the very important matters at hand. Tony sat back and watched the Captain work. Clint was smart. He probably knew what they were trying to do, but for now he played along.

"A firefighter? How'd that even happen?"

"I drive a truck. Or drove a truck, until the storm hit and I flooded the engine trying to get home a couple years ago. I just haven't had the time to fix it. There's a lake on the main road, and it swelled. I thought I could make it. I wanted to make it. I did, and it was a good thing too. The entire first floor had three feet of water in it. We rode the rest of the storm out on the roof."

He sighed and leaned on the doorway. "Then Lila saw me on TV in New York during the attack. She was only three." He shrugged, looking around the room at the life, the family he'd built, and a single morning had destroyed. "She's my little girl, my only girl. Her bunny is really a dog, Thor's her favorite Avenger, her daddy is a fireman, and she only eats chicken on Tuesdays. It has to be fried, but you have to pick all the breading off. She doesn't like the breading. But you can't just grill chicken, either. It's different, and she'll call you out on it."

He batted his lashes, pushing the back of his hand across his eyes. "Cooper's too smart for me. He could build the Tower with legos. He loves legos, erector sets, anything he can build. He likes to build. He reminds me a lot of you, Tony, and I'm not sure if that terrifies me or not. We made a treehouse behind the barn. I thought he might be up there, hiding, but he wasn't there. He's not here. He would have come out."

Steve crossed the room and held Clint's shoulders in his hands. "Hey, look, we're going to find them. You have Lila, that's one for us. She could have overheard something. You said this bullet came from your gun, that the blood stain isn't Laura. Is it the carpool driver's?" He knew the answer already from Tony's analysis, but it helped bring Clint up to speed.

Refocused on the task at hand, Clint sniffed, shook himself back into action mode, and took in the room again. "There's a storm shelter in the barn. Fury uses it when he stays over, which isn't often. After SHIELD fell, he said he'd be dropping by. Natasha found one of his bags in the barn along with five bodies. Someone stashed them."

Tony and Steve exchanged a worried glance.

"Hydra. Same tech, uniforms, even comms. If Hydra knew their bodies were around, they would have taken them when they left. I think Fury came in. Maybe Hydra followed him. I don't know. He stashed the first few, but it could have been too much for him to take on alone."

Clint looked around, noticed the curtain over his bed, and moved its cord aside. He inspected the string, and held it up for them to see. "I taught Laura this. Gun stabilizer for a long range sniper rifle. I keep it in the storm shelter in case Fury ever needs extra munitions. She knows how to use it too."

Things were beginning to come together, albeit slowly. The more Clint explained his wife's resourcefulness, the more they understood what had occurred in the early hours of the day.

Nick Fury must have come by as he intended. More likely than not, he'd been tailed to the Barton property, and Hydra tried to make a move on him. He got the first wave, hid the bodies from the kids, and waited for what was surely going to be a second wave of attackers. He split the two available fighters up. Fury in one side of the house, Laura in the other window. Clint's bedroom gave a broad view of the south side property. She'd have a decent chance at defending them.

"I found a casing," Tony announced, brushing more family photos aside. He lifted the casing, and two others beside it. "Bolt action rifle. Yours?"

"Mine," Clint confirmed. Laura got a few rounds off, at least. Eight months pregnant and shooting a rifle. If it was possible, he loved her a little more.

"What room on this floor will cover the other half of the house if they tried to make a stand here?" Steve asked.

"Guest bedroom, end of the hall." Clint indicated the direction as he combed through a stack of clothes on the ground.

Steve left to inspect the place. His hand reached for the door, but paused before turning the knob. There was a strange black haze that scorched across the polished metal surface of the handle. The marks, like a burn, outlined five long fingers. He tapped the handle with his hand, but felt no ill effects. Edging the door open with the toe of his boot, he glanced at the door jamb.

A line of exposed wires from a lamp had been stripped down on one side, and lay just inside the doorway. The other end was still plugged into a socket. Fury was there all right, and he wanted to make sure no one was coming in behind him. He walked in carefully. If one wasn't mindful, they might spring a trap that hadn't already gone off in a Hydra goon's face.

The guest bedroom had already been searched by Stark, but he'd been looking for people, not bullets. It took a little time. Eventually, Steve found a few casings, then a splatter of blood beneath the overturned mattress, and lastly a gun. The mag was empty, and a knife stuck straight out of the wall a few feet away. The first, he recognized instantly as one of Nick's prized side arms. The second, he knew belonged to Barton.

Fury had made his last stand in that room. He tried to divide and conquer at first, but facing overwhelming opposition, he would have chosen to close ranks and defend from a single position. Clint's room was the larger of the two, and only had a single entry/exit. Fury must have chosen to join Laura.

Finished his inspection, Steve turned back to the door. Something caught him out of the corner of his eye. He stopped, turned, and tried to focus on what reflected at him. There was a piece of foil from a gum wrapper sticking out of the guest bathroom mirror. It caught the light from the window as Steve made his way by. It didn't make sense.

Steve approached the bathroom vanity and inspected the object. He gently opened the vanity, half expecting to find a bomb blow up in his face. Nothing happened. The cabinet was empty. Steve looked at the mirror again, and plucked the gum wrapper from between it and the wall. Surprisingly, an arrow had been drawn on it. It pointed at the mirror.

The Captain's eyes met his thirteen reflected faces. A spider-web crack, from either the butt of a gun or a fist, had pulverized the center, though the glass didn't come completely apart. It remained intact by its frame. On a whim, he set Fury's gun down with the slip of gum wrapper, and grabbed the edge of the frame. He lifted it up off the hook, and turned the mirror around.

"Hey, guys! You might want to come read this!"

* * *

I love how this is using all the best elements of each man's strength to solve a mystery. whoooodunit:) (Clint being a firefighter is actually based off an interview Mark Ruffalo did, where his kid thinks that he is a firefighter. too cute not to use.)

Coming up: A cowardly dwarf king, Lila tells her side, and Cooper takes after his father

Please review!


	6. Chapter 5

And seriously, thank you all for the myriad of reviews. they mean the world to me! THANK YOU TO:::

All my anonymous guests, discordchick, SA Jedi DC of Marvel, Leena7, Ms. Hawkeye, Amy. .9, Aini NuFire, khaitosfren, Niom Lamboise, penguincrazy, Liliththestormgoddess, Chinagirl18, ThePenguinApocalypse, Alex C, Wonderwomanbatmanfan, ShadowPhoenix22, IWriteSinsOrTragedies, Pinkypop22

WestonFollower (Holy cow, we got another one. I hope you enjoy the insane Hawkeye journey you are about to travel on! Enjoy all the stories i've labored over from beginning to end. I don't think you'll be disappointed:) I do really love how Laura is developing in this. I mean, she's married to Hawkeye for crying out loud, she cannot be normal.)

Guest who said: Is it weird I kinda just want to see Clint like snap, just go full on Hawkeye on someone's #$ . Love the story! (ummmm, can you read minds?)

LeanneDaseyLover (omg, massive, long reviews, i literally love them so much:)

ZeDancingHobbit (Aw, thank you!)

Casey Storm (it is a fun little mystery isn't it? love how this is shaping up!)

kage-ryu14 (aw, thank you too! I really appreciate it!)

Daughter of the North(once you mentioned wanting more Steve I was like, yup, you are gonna love this one. Placed something in a little later for that too)

AvengerOfFiction (ook at you being a little investigator! Good Job! And I do love the input on eye color! May not manipulate that in this book, but it WILL change my writing from here out, so thank you for that!)

.ROX (sorry! whenever i copy the reviews here the " " part gets dropped!)

5mairer (oh, I have fast-forwarded like 12 years into the future before, so that isn't out of the cards for me:)

8839 (sorry, whenever i copy all the reviews here it always cuts off the julia-rose part! I loved everything about your review. I just can't even. the smiles are so big:)

Qweb (LOL, so very astute! I claim a writer's poetic license on that one:)

BookLuv (BAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! I LOVED your review, i about died!)

* * *

 **Avenge Me**

Chapter 5

"Clint, take a deep breath."

"I'm killing him. I'm going to kill him. He's going to die."

"Your daughter is literally right outside. I don't think she wants - "

"How **DARE** he bring this down on **MY** house? With **MY** wife and **MY** kids? What the **HELL** was he thinking coming here?!"

"I can see you're upset, but Clint, I really don't think that threatening to murder people is the right way to handle your emotions."

"You know what, Stark? Why don't you just shut the - "

"Ok, everyone, cool it." Steve stepped between the two and tried to keep them separated.

Clint had the sort of anger in him that might cause him to strike out unexpectedly. It was dangerous to egg him on, and while Tony might assume he was actually being helpful, he wasn't. Clint turned away from the both of them and tried to pace around his guest bedroom, though there was little space left to do just that. He fumed beneath his breath. The minute they found Nick Fury, the guy was sure to get a fist in his only good eye. If he was lucky, Clint might not force him to have reconstructive surgery afterwards.

Barton put his hands behind his head and laced his fingers together. He tried to breathe through his rage. Banner's headphone music therapy would be a welcome distraction right about now.

"All right, so Fury's note says that he showed up, like we all suspected, and that he'd been followed. Fine. He said Hydra wanted something called "The Toolbox". Clint, does that ring any bells for you?" Steve asked, reading the message on the back of the mirror.

Clint stopped pacing and nodded. "Yeah, it's the superhero index. All powered people, and Fury's private network, in one gene-encrypted location."

"That sounds like a terrible idea," Steve muttered to himself. He moved past it. "Do you know where The Toolbox is? Did he keep it here?"

"God, no. Never. I wouldn't let that thing in the house. He asked me once, and I turned it down. He gave it to another agent."

Tony asked, "Who has it? They might know what's going on here that we don't."

"I can guarantee he has no idea. We would know long before this," Clint replied.

That sounded peculiar to Tony, and when things sounded off, he prodded. "How is it _we_ would know? I've never even heard of this little thing of Shaft's until three minutes ago."

Tony and Steve could both see the beacon of alarm cross Clint's face. Despite the reserve it surely brought, he spoke anyway. "Um, the new Director of Shield has it. And that person just happens to be an undead Phil Coulson. And he just so happens to be Hill's hard contact on the Find-Loki's-Scepter case. Since she just spoke to him this morning, and he's currently looking into this Sokovia location, I feel like he wouldn't just glaze over the fact that Hydra was making moves after The Toolbox."

Two jaws slowly opened. It took a solid minute for Steve to come around only a hair, before Tony did.

"Um . . . OK. So . . ." Steve put a hand up to his forehead and rubbed his eyebrow. "OK. Phil Coulson is not only alive, he is the Director of SHIELD, which is still operating underground, and he has a device with enhanced individuals' information on it. Along with all of Fury's secret files, contingency plans, and everything else he ever cooked up. Hydra thinks Fury has it, and they followed him here to get it. He took out the first wave, stashed their bodies in the shed, and decided to take a stand here where," He pointed up the hall to Clint's bedroom, "Your wife sniped them from the second story window, and Fury gunned them down from this room. They got buried, and converged in the bedroom. Hydra got in close, Laura shoots one in the head, and then hides, we're guessing, in the closet."

"That's where the bloody footprints lead," Clint confirmed.

"Laura and Fury are both taken into Hydra custody, and probably dragged outside before they tossed the house looking for The Toolbox. What we don't know, are how your kids and Stacy factor into this. And why no one called us."

Tony looked over at Clint. "I'm just going to let this Coulson thing slide until we get your family back. Them I'm going to throw a fit. Let's go talk to Lila."

Clint nodded, accepting the terms of the agreement.

:(:):(:):

"There was once a dwarf by the name of D'iore in a realm far from this. He held a visage like none other before him. A tall, sturdy sort of dwarf who could see a head above his companions. Given the greatness of his height, and due at least in part to his scraggly red beard, which reached way down to his very toes, he was awarded kingship over the clan of dwarves. But D'iore had an unfortunate sort of problem. Do you know what that was?"

The starry-eyed child held tightly to the neck of her stuffed dog in one arm. Her Thor-helmet was on, and her little Mjolnir rested in her lap as she listened to Thor's story. At his proposed question, her pig tails jiggled back and forth in a "no".

"D'iore was a coward. He was terrified of fighting, and sword play, and all those things that a king must do. He thought, perhaps, to hide his cowardice. After all, there was peace in all of his realm. But it did not stay that way. One day, the very stout, dumpy, dwarf by the name of Drufl, came knocking on his castle gate." Thor rapt his knuckles against Mjolnir, creating a bone-chilling sound. "And D'iore was afraid. He didn't know what he might do to stop Drufl. Do you know what he did?"

"No, what?" Lila asked.

"D'iore remembered that Asgardians are sworn to protect all the Nine Realms. And, as he was one of those kings in the Nine Realms, he knew he could reach out and find help in me."

Lilia's eyes grew as large as two Caribbean oceans. "Did you stop the mean dwarf?!"

Thor lifted his hammer. "The moment D'iore called, I came riding to his rescue. I became his champion. Someone who swears to fight for the honor of another. I fought the evil dwarf Drufl for D'iore, and saved his realm! Yet, there was something more dangerous in D'iore than an evil dwarf. You see, it is quite a normal thing to be scared. D'iore was terrified of Drufl, and rightly so. But one must also face their fears and overcome them. Otherwise, a time may come when they reappear, and you have none but yourself to rely on. Battling on despite your fear, that is called courage. I spent a long time showing D'iore what it meant to be a courageous dwarf."

The large Asgardian sat on the grassy hill by the exit ramp for the Aven-jet, with Clint's child sitting cross-legged in front of him. After discovering the bodies stacked in the hidden bunker in Clint's barn, he thought it may be best to take the little girl away from the immediate area, should some other evils present themselves. She'd been traumatized quite enough for one day, in his opinion. The minute the little girl reached out to him in the house, he swore to guard her as if she were his own. According to Barton, Lila would mount no opposition to Thor's plan. In fact, it may just make her the happiest child in the world.

"You think I can be a courag — a courageous person? Like the dwarf king?"

Thor smiled. He could see across the field, Steve, Clint, and Tony all meeting up with Natasha outside the home. Their attention focused on him over by the jet and, soon, they began making their way toward Lila and him.

"I believe that you may be more courageous than the dwarf king. And you must never forget, you may still call on me when you wish, and I will be your champion too. If there is anyone that might frighten you, I will defend you. Do you believe I will do it?"

The girl's mouth opened in a gap-toothed agreement. "Uh huh," she said.

"You must be brave for what is to come. We have a great quest ahead of us. We must find the evil who dared take your family. I pledge my hammer to it. But like the dwarf king, you must also try and help, despite the fear."

Lila tucked her chin in slightly, and played with the long ears on her dog. "I miss my momma."

"Lila?"

The girl turned and held up her arms for Clint to pick her up. He squeezed the girl against his chest, and, for a time, merely stood there holding her tightly. She pulled away from him with her Bun Bun set firmly between them.

"I'm going to be a dwarf king, daddy," she boldly declared.

Clint gave her a strange look, and turned to Thor for an explanation.

The Asgardian shrugged. "It is merely a story we often tell to inspire courage. I hope you do not object."

Clint shook his head, "No, no, never. And thank you, again, for being so good with her. You don't know how much it means to her." Clint turned back to her daughter. "Lila, I need you to be daddy's brave girl now. Can you do that? Can you tell me if you saw Uncle Nick today?"

Lila's expression changed a little. "Uh huh. I got to . . . I got to go to show and tell today. And Jordan said that I had peas in my head. I started to cry, then he said I was a cry baby. I don't like Jordan, daddy, he's a meanie."

With the added weight of her on his near-broken knee, Clint felt as if he might collapse. Taking a little initiative, he headed for the back of the Aven-jet, talking to Lila as he went. She was still so young. Often, he needed to hear a life story before he got to the heart of what he wanted. Her mom was the same way, he mused, with both a happy and disheartened pang in his chest.

"Is this the same Jordan that stomped on your doll house?" he asked.

"He said my dolly was stupid," she complained.

"Well, I think I'll have something to say to his mom about all that." Clint found one of the empty jump seats, and carefully lowered Lila into it. Kicking his knee out to one side, he slowly knelt in front of her.

"Then Miss Stacy picked me up, but she got Coop already cause he was sitting in my seat, and I had to sit in the middle cause I'm the smallest. Daddy, do I always have to sit in the middle?"

"For now, you do," Clint told her. He tried to ignore the cluster of other Avengers waiting for the heart of the questions to come out. They stood around him in the back of the Aven-jet, listening to Lila's every trouble.

"And then Miss Stacy drove Kevin to his soccer practice. I don't like soccer. Then she drove us home, and Uncle Nick was in the window."

Now this was something. Clint prodded a little harder. "Uncle Nick was in which window?"

"In the kitchen."

"Ok, Uncle Nick was in the kitchen when you got home from school. Where was mommy?"

"She didn't want me to play downstairs, so Uncle Nick took me to my room with Coop. I wanted to watch My Little Pony, but the TV wasn't working. Momma said the lights wouldn't turn on, and she wanted to call you, daddy, but she couldn't. She asked Miss Stacy to take us away, but she wouldn't. She was scared. Uncle Nick, he said we were playing hide-and-go seek, and he was gonna seek and I was gonna hide, but I wanted to play Thor." She punctuated her excitement with a wide grin up to the large Avenger. Thor returned it.

Clint placed his hands over hers, and drew her attention again. "Uncle Nick doesn't play very often, does he? You must have been so excited. Where did Cooper hide?"

The girl's shoulders went up and down. She didn't know.

"So after you went to hide, what happened then? Did someone else come to the house?"

Her eyes glossed slightly as she thought of that troubling time. It took a little inspiration from her father, and a gentle encouragement from her favorite Avenger, but soon she opened up to what she'd seen, or rather heard, beneath the bed in her room.

The Avenger's initial estimate, that the house had been ransacked by a group of militant men, was accurate. She heard and few bangs, gunshots, all mainly from upstairs, leading them to believe the militants most likely had silencers while Fury and Laura did not. With Clint's help, the blood sample on the floor had been ruled out as belonging to Laura Barton, and Tony's scanners continued to work in finding a match.

 _After an exchange of gunfire, things became quiet. Lila wanted to come out of her hiding place and see what was the matter, but her mother screamed. It scared the child back into hiding. Her brother cried out and someone came crashing into her room._

 _"I don't know! I don't know!" Cooper screamed, his high top sneakers stumbling over the objects in Lila's room._

 _Lila pushed the plastic Asgardian helmet back off her eyes to see better. Four pairs of boots tromped around with Cooper between them._

 _"A cube! A box! Where is it, or else I'm going to leave your body here for the flies!"_

 _"No! I don't know! I don't know who you are or what that is! Let me go, you big squid face!"_

 _Lila sucked tighter beneath the bed against the wall. She grabbed her stuffed rabbit in one hand, her hammer in the other, and wanted desperately for her father to come bursting through the window and save her._

Slam _!_

 _Cooper hit the floor on his face, releasing tears as he held a hand up to his reddening cheek. As he sobbed against the floor, his eyes looked beneath the bed, and up into the face of his sister. His hand moved away from his cheek, extending a single finger up to push against his lips._

 _"Shhh." He whispered to her. His eyes conveyed it all._ Hide, Lila. Stay under the bed, be safe, find dad. _After that, Cooper decided to make a spectacle of himself. He hurled to his feet and threw his shoulder into the nearest man, then launched out of the room. Someone, who had been trying to lift the end of Lila's bed, dropped it, and rushed through the door after the boy. Lila listened as Cooper screamed, kicked, and apparently resorted to biting before another sickening pop silenced him._

 _Terrified, Lila continued to hide, waited, and refused to come out._

As Lila spoke about the series of events, Steve leaned down beside Clint, and closed his hand over his teammate's shoulder. He worked the muscles there, trying to keep Clint from completely losing his mind. His family, his son, had been attacked. Cooper had the same sort of bravery in him that Clint had when the boy decided to sacrifice himself in order to save his only sister. When Lila was finished, her father moved into the seat beside her and let the girl climb into his lap again. He circled her body in his arms, and looked up at the others.

Someone had taken them, but not just any someone. Hydra had taken them. Not only that, the goons put their hands on his wife. They struck his son. They yanked his family out of their home and defiled it before they left. The anguish in Clint's eyes was palpable as he looked up at his team. He was so furious, so disgusted, he shook nearly as much as his daughter.

"We've got to find them," he whispered. Some part of him meant his family. Another part, a darker part, meant the people that dared to do this to him.

"We will," Steve said with a hearty assurance.

"EMP."

All eyes shifted to Tony sitting behind the pilot's seat. He turned the chair around to face them. "It's what's messing with my sensors. They dropped an EMP, or something like it, on the place, and that's what cut out the electronics. Explains why they couldn't call, the television not working, everything. Must have happened after the woman dropped the kids off at home. That way, she was still able to call the Tower after she left."

"Is there some way Fury will use to contact you? Laura?" Steve asked, looking between both Natasha and Clint.

"Possibly," Natasha said. "We'd need the scanners at the Tower, some equipment, there are a few things we could try from there."

"We should go as soon as we can," Tony said.

Steve shifted to Clint. "That OK with you? Leaving here?"

"I'm not going to find my family here, we have to go. I should get some things together for them though, grab some clothes for Lila and Coop," Clint replied.

Steve seemed surprised. He hadn't exactly thought of that, though it made sense. This wasn't just about recovering a missing person, Clint had two kids he had to care for. Lila's interests came first. Though he wasn't sure exactly what to do with a kid, he still offered. "If there are things you want to get - you know, from the house - I can watch her if you want."

Thor stepped forward a little. "I believe, as her favorite hero, I might enjoy our continued discussion of the dwarf king."

Natasha bypassed the two of them, and picked Lila up from behind. "Get in line, boys, I was Aunty Nat before you were even Avengers." She headed off to the front of the jet to show off all the complicated switches to Barton's daughter.

The overhead radio flipped on, and Bruce's voice filled the cabin. "Hey, guys, I found the missing car. You might want to get over here."

* * *

and, natasha takes center stage:P awe, cooper you little Avenger-to-be! For all those new readers, new reviewers, new fans to my writing: HELLO! My Name is Ezra (but not really) I'm on facebook (if you want to join me). I've written a nearly 23 book long Hawkeye-centric EPIC starting with book 1 (Moments in Mexico) all the way to the current story (I Can Hear the Drums). So, like my writing? Need more Hawkeye in your life? Skip on over there, but hold onto your pants. You might start out in Mexico, but you will swiftly find yourself in the midst of a Frost Giant war on Asgard, riding on the backs of dire wolves, skipping the the Alfheimr woods, and getting blow up in a white house. Oh, and tears will happen. fair warning. ask any of my long-time readers.

sorry the author notes in the beginning are so long.

poll: would you prefer them at the end? let me know:)

Coming up: The fate of Stacy, what Hill thinks about it all, and the pain Clint's hiding from everyone, even himself.

Please keep reviewing!


	7. Chapter 6

THANK YOU TO:::

All my anonymous guests!

Aini NuFire, WestonFollower, khaitosfren, TortoisetheStoryteller,.ROX, penguincrazy, Qweb, Liliththestormgoddess, amy. .9, Wonderwomanbatmanfan, ThePenguinApocalypse, discordchick

m klindt(OMG, that was too funny!)

5mairer (what? A class? HI CLASS! This author is supremely delighted and graciously honored you have come!)

grishma239 (I cant help it, it's all connected.)

8839 (enjoy every line you read! and just gloss over those grammar mistake parts)

TheNaggingCube (you've found me again! please enjoy!)

Ms. Hawkeye (probably THE best review ever! i keep rereading it and laugh!)

IWriteSinsOrTragedies (I actually had a friend named Cooper, and we all called him Coop)

jensmit75 (Why thank you!)

Niom Lamboise (Will try! And i just love hearing about the tears of readers. I'm evil like that)

Daughter of the North (what a beautiful compliment! Thank you! And it seems Cooper has encountered some classic masks after all...)

LeanneDaseyLover (Until you pointed it out, I hadn't realized the many bits of humor I've added to this. What a nice surprise for me! LOL! Lila is about 5ish going on six or six in this)

* * *

 **Avenge Me**

Chapter 6

"I think we should call in the local P.D. on this one, Clint. It's far enough from the house that I'm not sure they'd make the connection, but still...this is bad." Bruce said, meeting the others on the side of the roadway. He hiked a thumb over his shoulder, where a guard rail had been blown over with an incredible force.

Thor, Steve, Tony, and Clint made their way over. They could see the shattered remains of a driver's side window blown up over the roadway, and four sets of tire tracks scorched along beside it. Clint jogged over to the mangled guardrail and thrust his head out over the embankment. He recognized Stacy's car immediately.

He'd been angry at first when he heard that she refused to drive away with his kids, to protect them where he couldn't. She had a family of her own. A husband and a son who relied on her. He couldn't imagine there were many normal humans out there in the world who would decide to invite trouble into their homes. The kind of trouble that might land them on the side of the road with their skulls caved in.

Clint stuck to the thick grass clods as he scrambled down the embankment toward her Subaru. He wanted to know that she was going to live, but at the same time he couldn't leave any trace that he was even there. Avengers, the secret Barton family, none of them could be associated with what happened here. The minute he reached the car, though, all of his fears manifested.

Stacy Belmont was dead. Her body half hanging out of her crushed driver's side car door. Her upper half laid against the soft earth and gazed sightlessly into the sky. Clint could see her cell phone siting on the passenger floor. Besides that, there was nothing. Tony followed him down, leaving the others at the roadway. The fewer footprints in the area, the better.

"I called the local police. Fake name. Burner phone. Response time around here is about ten minutes. We should leave before then," Tony said quietly.

"If she hadn't placed that call, I wouldn't have known they were gone. She might not be dead, either." Clint replied, standing over her. He took a deep breath and turned away from the tragic scene, scrubbing a hand over his horrified face. "Her son's in Cooper's class. They're friends. I should call her husband, say something – "

"No, you shouldn't."

Clint looked over at Stark, surprised. "What do you mean?"

"I know you feel like this is all your fault, but it's not. It's Hydra's. It's not your fault you have a life outside of this stupid stuff that we do. You, telling everyone that she was killed by Hydra goons, isn't going to change the fact that she's dead, Clint. Let the cops take it. They might come to the same conclusion. It's obviously a murder case, but it will give us time while they spin their wheels to find your family."

The decision made sense, though it still left a sour taste in Clint's mouth. He looked down at the woman again. She was someone he trusted. A scared, normal person caught up in the web of a life he lived, and was murdered trying to escape from it. Tony might think it wasn't Clint's fault, but that wasn't necessarily how he saw it.

Tony was right, though. Telling her husband that Hydra murdered his wife wouldn't change anything in the first few days. Silently accepting Stark's plan, he retraced his steps back up the hill. Stark took a final look at the scene, and went along behind him.

:(:):(:):

Maria Hill paced to and fro on the landing pad beside Pepper Potts. She held a file in one hand, passed it to Pepper, took it back, continued to pace. Her functional heels made a familiar click-click-click off the metal flooring.

"I just can't believe it. How did I miss this? I don't miss things. Fury didn't share everything with me, he doesn't share stuff like that with anyone, but I knew Barton before the Avengers. He was a flirt, show-off! And for crying out loud, we called him Pluto, Lord of the Underworld. He could drink Thor under a table if he wanted to." Hill stopped, leveling her gaze on the other woman. "How did I miss a wife and two kids?! Not just one of them, but two! And not just two, apparently he's made up a third, and that's about to come out of the production line in little over a month!"

Pepper shrugged. "I asked him once if he had anyone important, and he said he didn't have a girlfriend. That's all I ever got out of him."

"Two and a half kids!" Hill began to pace again, tapping the file against her arms which crossed behind her back.

"At least they have the youngest. Clint's still worried about the others, though. I can't imagine what he must be going through."

"Stark does, I'm sure," Hill replied. In the distance, the sun began to reflect off the forward glass of the Aven-jet's cockpit. The Avengers were only a few minutes out.

Pepper dwelled on that thought for a bit. At first, she'd meant to question Hill on her meaning, but she didn't really have to. When Pepper had been kidnapped, experimented on, Tony went to a very dark place in order to find her again. She could imagine the others were keeping a close eye on the archer, but that didn't mean he wasn't still suffering. She chewed her bottom lip.

They stepped back into the tunnel a little, waiting for the jet to land. Stark was piloting; not a surprise to them. Clint usually insisted on taking them himself, and only injury, exhaustion, or death prevented that.

When the plane landed, Tony gave them a small wave from the cockpit before dropping the back hatch open. Where, in the past, the landing of the jet barely preceded the pile-out of Avengers seeking to escape the cramped quarters, no one was in a hurry this time.

Banner hung by the back cabin, watching Steve, who stepped out of the way while Natasha gathered up a few packed bags. Thor hovered by Clint's elbow as the Avenger limped for the ramp. There was a small child holding tightly to his hand, and, the minute she spied the outside world, she practically climbed up Clint's leg for her father to hold her again. Thor, who had been carrying a small stuffed dog, promptly passed it over Clint's shoulder to the child, who squeezed it against her chest. Stark brought up the rear.

"She's ok," Clint announced first and foremost. "Scared and shy, but they didn't hurt her."

"I'll drop these in your room, then head to the lab." Natasha told him, walking away with Clint's bags. Barton thanked her and led the team inside.

He didn't exactly intend on being the front-runner of their current mission, but the minute everyone caught sight of Lila, they sort of froze up and ceased to form rational thoughts on their own. He knew what his excuse was, Clint was her father. He had a right to be worried and fearful that he may never see his wife and son again. Why the rest of the Avengers were following him around like lost puppies, he couldn't begin to explain.

Hill, who had been losing her mind with the overflow of information, now sought to catch up. "Is she hungry? Does she need something?"

"She needs her mother, and so do I," Clint replied, deadpan. They strode onto the main floor of the Avenger's wing. He could see Natasha already rounding the corner from their private rooms toward the lower level laboratory.

"Bruce, can you help Natasha? I'll be there in a minute."

Without question, Bruce headed away, tugging Tony along with him. Steve watched them go, wondering whether it was better to file away with that crowd or stay behind with Clint, Thor, and the two women. Not missing the opportunity, he went.

"Lila, I need you to – " Clint tried to pull his daughter away from him, but she clung as tight as crazy glue. "Lila, honey, let go of daddy."

"No!" she announced steadfastly.

"Lila, I need to go help Aunty Nat find mommy and Coop. You need to let me go."

Given that option, Lila did release her cloying grip. Clint set her down on one of the couches, arranged her "rabbit" beside her, and even extracted the plastic hammer from his pants pocket. All of the precious commodities in hand, he planted a kiss on her cheek. "OK, sweetheart, this is Miss Pepper and Miss Maria. They are very, very nice people, and Daddy trusts them. I want you to trust them too. It's getting late, so I want you to eat dinner, get on a different pair of jammies, and go to bed."

"But – !"

Clint held up his hand. "No buts. What Daddy says, goes. Eat, jammies, bed. I need to find mommy and bring her back so, for right now, I need you to be a big girl and be brave for me, understand?"

Lila pooched out her bottom lip slightly in disapproval. It didn't last long.

"O – OK, daddy."

"That's my good girl," Clint said. He turned his attention to Maria and Pepper. "She likes carrots, but not the big ones, the little ones. And she likes chicken, just not grilled chicken, and she peels off the breading. If she eats a sandwich, you have to cut off the crusts. She can have one slice of pizza, no pepperoni. And no sugar or soda before bed. Actually, no soda at all. Laura doesn't like it."

Pepper nodded frantically to all of his instructions. "It's OK, we'll figure it out. Don't worry about us girls. You just go do what you have to."

"Thank you. If you need me, or if something – "

Pepper grabbed him under one arm, and helped pull him to his feet. "It'll be fine, Clint. Really. You go find her. We can't help with that, but at least we can help with this."

Clint stumbled slightly as he stood, but tried to hide it. Hill sent him a worried glance. He kissed his daughter's forehead, charged her to be good, and headed off in the direction of the lab. Thor leaned down and, with a clawed hand, attacked the child's middle, sending a cascade of laughter into the room. He followed after Barton, grinning from ear to ear.

They rounded the first corner and moved toward the lower lab, when very suddenly Clint stopped. He doubled over, listed sideways, and landed on his hind end with his back propped against the curving wall. Filled with fear, Thor rushed beside him.

"My friend! What has befallen you?" the Asgardian exclaimed, low enough so Lila might not overhear.

Clint winced, holding his hands to either side of his throbbing knee. While adrenaline and an overwhelming fatherly love might dampen all pain, it did not dismiss it completely. The ride back on the jet had been pure Hell. Running, hiking, and climbing stairs threatened to swell the joint beyond use all together. He was lucky to have hidden the agony this long, beneath the two measly Aspirins he'd downed before Stacy's phone call threw his life into a tailspin. That was hours ago, and now he was feeling it.

"My leg," he whispered, trying not to touch it. "It's killing me. Every time I move, it's like glass shards. I can hardly walk."

Thor opened his mouth to say something akin to shock. He took the cuff off Clint's pant, and carefully pushed it back over the joint. The Asgardian sat back and placed a fist against his mouth when he saw the damage. Clint's knee was very swollen, twice the size it had once been. The color was deeper, angrier than before, and a distinct square-edged imprint lay testament as to the cause of the damage. Thor glance down at his hammer guiltily.

"It is my fault this has occurred. You must not walk. You require time to heal!"

Clint grabbed his shoulder plate and used it, and the wall, to force himself back to his feet. A few minutes of sitting was all he needed, he told himself. He still had too much to do. Sitting around, letting the others find his family for him, wasn't in the cards. Natasha might overlook something. Fury might try contacting them with a code she didn't know. Clint had worked with the director longer than Natasha had. He would know the things to try that she wouldn't.

"Barton, I beg of you – "

"I can't stop," Clint panted, trying to step forward. He was forced to grab the wall to prevent from falling right over. His smashed knee reminded him of his own mortal ways. He gasped.

"If you will not heed my advice, do me the honor of at least assisting you!" Thor pleaded. He cast a look behind them to be sure no one was about to stumble into their conversation. Thus far, no one came.

"This isn't fair. It's not fair. I've got to find them, I don't have time for this!"

"We will find your family, I swear on my father's life to that. But if you do not take care, then what good will you be on the mission to recover them?" Thor reasoned.

Clint, stubborn as ever, plodded ahead. He limped for the lower level, where the rest of the team were gathered. He was getting there on his own strength, even if it killed him.

Unable to deter him, or even to help him, Thor considered some other option. He left Barton to limp down the corridor, and returned briefly to the other room. He found the bottle of Aspirin Tony often consulted, and grabbed the bucket of ice from the bottom cooler. He said nothing to the questioning looks of Hill and Potts. There was work yet to be done, and if Clint was determined to drag himself through agony's gates, Thor could at least provided some relief from the pain he had so erroneously inflicted.

* * *

Poor Clint, trying so hard to push himself. Someone just needs a break.

Coming up: Lila becomes a tycoon, Ambien, and Cooper solves a problem

Please keep reviewing!


	8. Chapter 7

Warning: I have Started my FINAL YEAR in Veterinary school, so time is less and less my own. I am a few chapters ahead in this, but posting might be stretched out. I am so, very, sorry but that is the nature of this last push to graduation! Thank you so much for sticking with me during this life-changing 4 years.

THANK YOU TO:::

All my anonymous guests!

Casey Storm, Alethea, LeanneDaseyLover, TortoisetheStoryteller, WestonFollower, Liliththestormgoddess, m klindt, .ROX, BookLuv ,casania, Roses in May, penguincrazy, Aini NuFire, Qweb, amy. .9, 8839, Wonderwomanbatmanfan, IWriteSinsOrTragedies, Niom Lamboise, DatNatCatThoe, discordchick, Ms. Hawkeye, ramsayreader

Death is inevitable (so far I've written 9 chapters, but it's definitely not finished! So to be honest, I'm not positive how long it will end up being)

CandyGirl999 (Thor has totally been the breakout character in this! Not planned, i swear. Just totally happened)

5mairer (absolute tears of happy joy. HI CLASS! Go be vet students and get no sleep/food/and get covered in animal juices! On second thought, no. don't do that... :D )

Dr. Nat (What beutiful compliments! Thank you very much. You words have stuck with me!)

TatteredAngel42 (Thank you very much for the compliments! I strive very hard to get that movie quality into these stories, so each one comes out feeling like it might actually happen)

ThePenguinApocalypse(I love infusing real life into these. It gives it that little punch of authenticity)

JRBarton(Aw! Well i hope to keep sailing this ship to see where it leads)

* * *

 **Avenge Me**

Chapter 7

Friday….

Clint sat in the stool with the ice pack strapped to his leg, watching Natasha construct the radio receiver. Across from him, Banner and Tony tag-teamed the DNA search on the physical evidence found at the crime scene.

There were still no matches.

Lila bounded by the arc of windows, determined to disappear before Miss Maria found her.

Former Agent Hill stood in a corner across from him, counting loudly down, "10...9...8...7..."

Pepper was hiding behind the couch.

Saturday….

Lila startled Clint by tugging on his arm, crying for her mother, and hungry for breakfast. Her child's mind couldn't decide which was more pressing. Natasha decided to take her out for pancakes and give Clint more time to work. He watched his girl bound away with Natasha, sniffing the trail of snot trying to leak from her nose. He wanted to get up and run to her, but for better or worse, his knee kept him chained to the workbench.

Tony sent a worried glance at the other Avengers in the lab. Clint hadn't left the room yet.

Sunday….

Clint realized there were still five bodies rotting in the barn at his home. He considered calling Coulson for a clean up, but declined. Enough people already knew about his hidden sanctuary to dissuade him from wanting to add any more to that list. He hadn't slept in over two days.

Thor slipped by at some point and slid a sandwich beside his hand. Clint stared at it. He wondered what it meant to be hungry again. His nervous stomach put him off from tasting a piece.

Monday….

Bruce rolled off of his arm to hear JARVIS' alarm sounding in his ear. One of the jerry-rigged transceivers had caught fire. Tony jumped up to put it out.

Steve was sitting against a wall, sleeping possibly, with a set of earphones over his head as he listened to the dead airspace of radio signals they hoped to pick up.

Clint was gone. Lila needed her bath and her bedtime story. She convinced him that only daddy's could do such important things.

Tuesday….

A hit, at last.

Tony flew down the stairs to the lower lab with a digital file in his hand. The room lit up with the face of Samuel Smith, a high profile Hydra agent, ex-member of SHIELD. Now dead. His, was the blood stain on the floor. Finally, progress was made.

Clint continued to adjust the radio signals, obsessed that somehow Fury would find a way to use the old Morse signals to reach out the way he and Natasha always could.

Steve listened to the cycle of the first 20 frequencies. They scanned over and over as he sat back and let the sounds filter through his ears. Clint took on the second set of twenty. Together they listened, for what they could only guess.

Wednesday…

Steve sighed, directing his straw between his lips as he sucked down the glass of citrus water Lila Barton had brought to the lab on her tea set tray. She'd spent the morning mixing "lemonade" with Pepper, and wanted everyone to pay a nickel to drink some. Steve was as unable to resist her charm as the other belabored Avengers. Pepper was determined to make a mogul out of the girl, starting from the ground up. After gathering all the available change in the lab, the two girls set out for some of the lower offices. Within half an hour, Lila had more money in her change purse than Steve did in his last paycheck.

He adjusted the noise-canceling quality of his head phones, switching them off temporarily to get a feel for the atmosphere around him. He'd been laying on the floor of the lab for the past five hours, sifting through twenty circulating frequencies that the three spies of the group used on a continual basis. He'd started out pacing around the lab, but it was impossible to go very far with the radio-equipment strapped to the bench. Sitting on the stool had been his perch for days, but laying on the floor came with its own perks. For one, he could avoid the ragged appearance of his fellow Avengers.

Clint had been running on empty for the last three days. It was Bruce's idea to slip him a sleeping pill with his morning (noon, and midnight) cups of coffee. It gave them a full six hours of Zombie-Barton. He never really fell asleep, more like propped himself at his work station and continued to scan through channels endlessly. Frankly, Ambien-Hawkeye wasn't much different than what Steve witnessed now.

The minute Tony identified the mystery blood sample, he was able to connect the other bodies in Clint's barn to a Hydra faction Hill had been tracking in the south eastern corridor. After leaving SHIELD, the Avengers had a few leads telling them Fury had traveled in that direction. It was possible he picked up the tail there, and tried to escape them by going north. Tony took Thor and blasted through the old base, but came up empty handed. No men, and no leads. They returned that morning, empty handed.

Natasha went back to Barton's place and combed over everything again, in case there was something they had missed. She took the liberty of making the rotting corpses disappear. How, Steve never wanted to know. She was resourceful enough to figure something out. She returned with Fury's pack, but there was nothing more in it to help them. The contents littered the workbench a few feet from where Clint sat, dejectedly listening to his own set of frequency channels. If the Avengers didn't get a lead soon, the archer was bound to either give up and raid every single Hydra base the planet had to offer, or lose his mind completely.

Seeing nothing different than what continued to permeate the room for the last near week, Steve laid back down on the floor, and reached for his nickel glass of lemony water. He'd just about directed the straw into his mouth when the next cycle of frequencies kicked on, like the scan button on a car radio. In the din of white noise and static, a distinct blip of information made him shoot straight up.

Steve pressed the head phone against his ear a little harder, listening to the first sound he'd heard beside the nothingness for nearly forty-eight hours straight.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Be —

The automatic scanner switched over to the next frequency. Steve clambered to his knees and retuned the dials on the old transceiver. Clint and Natasha looked over, their curious, exhausted expression reflecting in the pane of glass walls.

Steve finally forced the signal back, and settled with the earphone pressed against his ear. He listened a little longer, trying to determine if what he heard was even possible or not. When the sound continued to play in alternating dots and dashes, he knew he'd cracked something at long last.

"Someone get me a piece of paper and a pen! I've got something! Hurry!" He shouted. All around him, the room exploded with excitement. Clint rushed over to snatch the headphones off the captain. He stood, listening for a moment himself, as if to believe it was true.

"S.O.S. It's a S.O.S. signal," he whispered.

"That's not what came before it, though," Steve announced. Bruce sat a pad and pen in front of him, and the captain scrambled to write something down. He grabbed the headset back from Clint, and sat on his knees, eyes closed, listening to the faint signal coming through. The others drew in closer, reading over the captain's shoulder as he wrote out the translated words.

"S.O.S. . . . . MOLDOVA. COME FAST. S.O.S. PASSWORD IS GARFIELD. MOLDOVA. THREE CAPTURED. ONE WAY TRANS."

In his excitement. Clint let out a string of expletives. He pounded his fist against the work bench. "That's my son! That's **_my_** son! He made a signal! Garfield is the password I told him for strangers." He looked at the others, trying to get them to understand his logic and excitement. "If someone ever came to pick him up from anywhere, in case anything ever happened to his mother or me, that person had to say the password. Garfield. That's the password to pick up my boy! I told you he was smart!"

Steve waved his hand, trying to cut the chatter while he listened. He'd stopped writing the message out where it repeated on itself. "Not safe. Can't trans always. Signing off." Steve opened his eyes. He pulled the ear phones down. "He says, "Send my Dad"."

Clint's jaw clenched. "You bet you will! Someone prep the jet. Get Hill up here with those Hydra base schematics. There's got to be something in Moldova we know about. And figure out how close that is to Sokovia. It may be the bases are linked if Loki's scepter really is there. Suit up." He grabbed his jacket off the back of his chair. Any trace of exhaustion, gone. He looked at the others with a renewed vigor. "We're going to get my family back."

* * *

Cooper is the smartest kid ever. Figures he's Clint's.

Coming up: where Tony has a heart-to-heart and Clint shows just how hard core he is (part 1)

Please keep reviewing!


	9. Chapter 8

i wish i could do all the individual thank yous this week, but I've been running around so much on my pathology rotation, i just cant seem to do it! Big apologies! Rest assured, one year from today I will walk at graduation then have all the time I want to write:) As for today, though? ICU emergency shift.

* * *

 **Avenge Me**

Chapter 8

"How's your knee going to handle all this?" Tony asked. He glanced to his left where Clint perched on the edge of a control panel. The archer's face was dark with concern, consumed with his inner thoughts. The last few days, he'd been a permanent fixture in the lab, along with practically everyone else. Now that they had a substantial lead to go off of, and certain that Cooper Barton was continuing to send intermittent transmissions their way, Clint had receded back into that dark depth again.

"My knee's fine." Clint whispered after a time. Subconsciously he bent forward and rubbed the joint with his hand. Tony didn't miss the wince he attempted to smother.

"Just take it easy in there. All of us are coming, and Banner's already called a code green. I think Thor might be the biggest loose cannon in here right now."

Clint's head lifted. He wasn't sure if he liked the idea of the hammer-wielder going medieval on Hydra while Barton's very mortal family was around.

Tony didn't miss the implication. "Don't worry about him. You think, after smacking you in the leg, he's ever going to forgive himself? No. What I'm saying is, we've got your back in this. Stick together, be smart, it's like any other base we've hit."

That assessment, Clint could accept. He sighed a little, his shoulders drooping as he tried to find some semblance of inner peace. He was usually tense on missions. More so as an Avenger than a SHIELD agent. To be fair, he did a lot of crazier things with this team than SHIELD ever asked of him, so the apprehension came with the territory. This time, in particular, hit him harder than the others.

"What am I going to do when I get them back?" he wondered to himself.

"I imagine a great deal of warm, snuggly feels will commence, at which time - "

"Not that," Clint interrupted. He knew exactly what he was going to do when his wife and son were back in his arms again. He hoped none of the Avengers were around at the time. Clint was prepared to do some very unmanly things, crying, blubbering, and collapsing against his wife's belly for one. "After this. Hydra knows where they live, where I live. I don't have a home anymore. I raised my kids in that house. They love their school. Everyone they've ever known lives there. Lila's missed almost a week of school, Cooper too. I'm not letting them go back right away. Can they even go back at all? What if Hydra comes after my children?"

Tony glanced back over his shoulder again to see the anguish Clint struggled over. It was just one more thing Stark had never considered in his own life. Clint had a family. He had more than himself to think about. School, homework, Laura's career, babysitters, in-laws; these were aspects of Clint's life that he privately juggled without any input from the others.

Now that all of his secrets were flapping in the wind, Tony continued to struggle with putting himself in Barton's shoes. Before, the guy was easy to interpret; SHIELD agent, sarcastic, attitude of a class-A hard case, with a goofy side that often caught the others by surprise. He could play dumb when he wanted, but Tony slowly realized it was only to avoid doing things Clint didn't want to do. This side of him, this father hell bent on moving all of planet Earth to save his family, didn't line up with any of those previous assessments.

"We'll figure something out. I'll help. Arm the place, set up defense perimeter, stealth monitoring, erase chart data, hard data, whatever you want. Just say the word. I understand if you want to stay. If not, I can help set up another location. Don't worry about that for now, I'll handle it." Tony was looking back at the monitors, helping guide him to the hidden Moldova base Hill's field agents identified four weeks ago. He could still see the reflection of Clint's face on the forward glass alter from one of internal turmoil to a refreshing calm.

"Thank you," he said sincerely.

"Don't mention it. Actually, do. Do mention it, so I don't forget."

"Can't imagine what you're going to do when that girl grows up, Clint." Steve said, drawing his attention.

Clint looked over with a curiously. The others had left him alone for the most part. Natasha continued to run interference for him, filling in details where they wanted. When the team got into the plane and Clint decided to hover by Tony, they let him be. Stark, despite his limited bedside manner, had suffered alone when Pepper was taken from him. He might not have a wife and kids, but he was willing to let Barton plop down beside him for advice. Typically Stark hated a backseat flier.

Bruce picked up on the connotation and humor Steve tried to put in and said, "Can you just imagine it? Lila's first boyfriend comes over to the house to meet her dad, and the Hawk's standing there with an acid-tipped arrow." He laughed a little at the thought.

A wave of horror crossed Clint's face. "Well, thanks, guys, no I actually hadn't thought of that. Ever. But now, I can't stop it. I think I might need a trap door. With crocodiles or diseased lions or something."

"You could always get her a cat."

Thor gave the doctor a strange expression. "What would the addition of a small mammal do?"

"Bruce, I am not turning my child into a crazy cat lady to prevent any future males from entering my property," Clint said firmly, but they could see the consideration in his eyes.

:(:):(:):

A harsh, frigid wind blew down the slope of pine trees, spraying his exposed face with a mist of flakes. The tiny spears struck his skin like pellets from a gun, driving him to duck beneath the concrete parapet for cover. His finger-tabbed hand reached down and tugged up on the zipper of his bullet-resistant coat. While the leather and Kevlar might have made mobility an issue, at least it was warm.

They were situated in the northern tip of the European country. Moldova contained more than its fair share of battlements and ramparts. Great brick and cement structures dotted its landscapes. Castles and strongholds, some used by the Allied Nations, most by the Nazis, it was no great surprise that a faction of Hydra remained in one of these snake nests to this day.

The journey took them to the north western tip of the country, close to the Ukrainian border. A great monument stood in the center of a small Soroca town in the canyon far below them. The brick laden castle seemed like a reasonable target initially, but all scans pointed to a separate location, deep in the Moldovan wood, past a battlefield full of graves.

The stones were slick to traverse, a fresh sheen of ice laid down even as the Avengers slogged through the snow drifts to get around the concrete bunker. The stones were weathered, old, and half had tumbled on top of their grave occupants in the near seventy years since their placement. Steve had gone silent as he led the way. He'd been to these battlefields before, only not since World War II.

When they reached the hillside leading up to the bunker, the Avengers spread out. Clint was on stealth detail, something he excelled at. Tony lit up the sky with his presence, and Thor swooped in to take out the Hydra forces on top of the bunker. Steve paved the way to the heart of the structure, and Natasha kept close to the Hulk, without getting herself too close. Five overwhelming forces to slam head-on into everything Hydra had to shell at them. Clint, in the meantime, slipped right up to them unnoticed.

The ice and snow blasted him from left to right as Thor made another pass overhead. A garrison of Hydra men flooded the top of the old stronghold. They weren't armed with any of the latest tech, giving the Avengers one more advantage over them. While bullets might irritate Steve and Thor, eventually they'd get over it and continue smashing. The Hulk? He'd just get madder.

Clint ducked down as the fire power breezed by him after the large Asgardian. There was a doorway, reinforced with steel braces, directly across from him. He yanked an arrow, and while Thor summoned a little lightning and lit up the nest above Clint, the archer let the tip fly. He hunkered down in the snow as the entry exploded inward. A hail of wood and metal shrapnel powdered the area. He clambered to his feet, ignored the protest of his knee brace, and stole into the central building.

The fort was laid out in a classic five tower system. Four lookout stations braced the four corners of a fifteen foot mortar wall. There were two gates to reach the inner court where the final tower jutted up fifty feet into the air. The central building was stacked onto a three story square base, with unchartered catacombs arranged in a labyrinth beneath all five structures. The forces they dealt with above, were no measure to the termite mound waiting for them below. It was easy to get cornered down there. Tony wanted to draw as many of the Hydra men out as he could before they barricaded themselves in.

"Found a labyrinth entrance, south east corner. Blocked it off." Steve's radio signal cackled in Clint's ear. The quality was shoddy at best.

"Cap, I'm picking up interference. I think they might try and blast us with an EMP," Stark replied.

Clint jogged across the open ground of the inner courtyard and squeezed beneath the belly of an army truck only a few meters from the center building's entrance. He pulled out two arrows, and fired them one after another into the front and rear left tires. At least the truck wouldn't be rolling away with him under it.

"If that happens, stick close to the courtyard and Thor will give you a jumpstart."

"Hawkeye, converge on the north labyrinth entrance. I'm coming up from the east. I'll meet you there," Natasha said.

Clint knew it was a bluff. She had a few of his exploding arrows in a waist holster, and while he spied his way into the inner base, she was providing counter cover for him. More likely than not, Hydra had tapped into the call signals.

"Roger, north," he replied.

Poking his head out from beneath the truck's running board, he tried to get a bead on Stark. He would be the first breach, hitting the building in the third story while Clint started low. They'd clear the center block, scan the tower, and if they came up empty, planned to head into the labyrinth with Steve and Natasha breaching from the outside entrances. Thor and Hulk would continue to run ground interference top side.

"Go on 'go'," Stark announced.

Clint watched as the streak of gold and red blasted across the open courtyard and focused his firepower on an upper window. Within seconds, the bricks exploded around him and he was inside. That was Clint's sign. He scrambled out from beneath the truck and pulled an exploding tip. The front door fell instantly, and before the smoke even cleared, he fought his way inside.

There was a tangle of fallen bodies clustered around the entry. Clint worked his way through them, ignoring the screams of wounded men, and took a quick turn down a side hall. He rushed forward, grabbed an arrow and buried it into the first man in a line of three. The next, he hit head-on with the top of his bow, and the third, he grabbed by the wrist. The third's handgun went off, landing a skull shot into the Hydra agent in front of him, before Clint forced the gun to turn. The last agent crumbled, felled by a bullet from his own gun. Clint moved on wordlessly.

"Eyes up, eyes up! We've got two jets in the wood, uncloaked, and trying to get out. Who's on it?" Steve's voiced was more muffled than before.

"I have them!" Thor replied.

"Watch the contents, might be our packages," Steve said before Clint had a chance to. Satisfied the outside of the base was being managed, Clint continued to make his way inward.

The base was made up of narrow halls and drafty eaves. Little remodel for the modern times was attempted here, similar to another base they'd raided only four or five weeks before hand. Hydra seemed extensive on first introduction to modern society, but the longer the Avengers ferreted them out, the more they realized the truth of their power.

Deception, a spectacle of strength, where really they had none. Their strength lay in the mystery of what they were and their intentions. Once the Avengers realized that and began to cut the heads off the snake, the entire organization started to crumble.

This base might have seemed impressive on paper with its battlements, remote location, and labyrinth of death, but it was no more than an outpost manned by trained operatives left to their own devices. Best of all, the men were scared. A year of intense work had done that to them. Stories of the Avengers taking out a base, getting closer and closer to dismantling the organization all together. Men who knew of, or lost, friends under the Avenger's strikes, all served to undermine the famous Hydra loyalty.

When Clint turned a corner and found himself in a large, former banquet hall, he could see just how far the Avengers had gone into scaring the Hydra organization straight. The hall had been retrofitted as the main operations center. Communications consoles lined the walls with pop tables filling the center floor. Stacks of equipment, boxes of armaments, and even a few new weapons protected the vital heart of the base he'd stumbled into. Faces of Hydra scientists, foot soldiers, and decision makers all turned as one in his direction, and he saw the reality wash across those faces.

Fear.

An Avenger has arrived here in their den. It was like waking in the night to find an intruder standing over one's bedside.

The room fell into a silent horror at the sight of him, and Clint was glad for every moment of it. He wanted them to be afraid, terrified. They'd taken something of his, and this was him getting it all back. Tearing an arrow out of his quiver, he braced it against his string and pulled the fletches against his face.

"Don't take my stuff," he growled at them, letting the first arrow fly.

* * *

Hahahaha crazy cat lila. I love Tony's offering. And seriously, this is about to get intense. Pumping up the detail, we be raiding a Hydra base people!

Coming up: where clint shows how hardcore he is(part 2), a discovery is made, and tragedy jeopardizes it all

Please keep reviewing!


	10. Chapter 9

Thank you to:::

AvengerOfFiction: DAW! Thank you!

brandibuckeye

penguincrazy: Hardcore clint = awesome

khaitosfren

amy. .9

8839

Ms. Hawkeye c: just a littler Starky-attitude somedays:)

Niom Lamboise

CandyGirl999: ohhh pity them allright:)

WestonFollower

BlackxValentine : A FIST PUMP! WHOOT!

ShadowPhoenix22

discordchick

m klindt : Jump the shark. I love it. Well hopefully this story is helping people warm up to the idea of father Clint and the farm family. I really want to break down that harsh disconnect a lot of people felt when their ship sank.

IWriteSinsOrTragedies

Liliththestormgoddess

JRBarton: I did have a quiet one! thank you!

Wonderwomanbatmanfan

* * *

 **Avenge Me**

Chapter 9

The room exploded in a shower of light as his arrow connected with one of the central computers. Sparks erupted through the air like the kaleidoscope of fireworks. Clint ducked to the left, rolled behind a central column, and popped up a second time with another three arrows on his bowstring. He let them all fly simultaneously, taking out four clustered men. He dropped when a hail of gunfire chased after him. The cat was out of the bag now.

He tapped his comm. "Hawkeye in, found a nest. Central Tower."

"Can you handle it?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, got it. Stark?"

Clint raised on his haunches, prepared to let loose another volley. The minute he lifted up, the entire line of displays flickered out in a single wave. The overhead lights blinked out, and he was bathed in total blackness.

"Stark? Cap? Anyone?" Clint felt the edge of the column he hid behind and moved back beside its cover. The radio was utterly silent.

EMP, he thought. Most likely the Hydra agents were prepared for it with shielded night vision equipment. Soon they'd be coming for him. Alone in the dark, surrounded, he had few options left but to fight his way out.

He ducked down against the column, pulled his sunglasses down over his eyes, and waited. It took time to get night goggles on, get them ready, form teams, and come after him. With a new arrow on the line, he waited them out. He pulled the arrow back and pointed it straight up. He counted the seconds. Ten, twenty, thirty. They should have clustered up, started marching, they'd be on him in no time.

Clint released the arrow. It slammed into the ceiling, and once the tip hit rock, it flared like a rocket. Beneath the protection of his glasses, he looked around at the fifteen Hydra agents trying to get the drop on him. Every one of them had some form of body armor, knives, and guns split between a few semi-autos and a handful of autos thrown in for flavor. The entire faction flanked him in a half moon from one side of his column to the other.

Maybe they thought they were clever. Maybe they thought they had an Avenger dead to rights. Clint aimed to prove them all wrong. With the flare blinding all of their high-tech sensors, and his ten dollar sunglasses protecting his eyes, it was like shooting fish in a barrel.

Clint shot out of his position, grabbed the muzzle of the nearest weapon, and directed it at another Hydra member. He released the gun before it went off and burned his palm. The minute the shot rang out, the entire faction became a shooting gallery. Clint moved behind one, stole a knife, slit his throat. Moved to the next, stabbed him in the spine, dropped under another gun, and suffered the ringing of a blast in close proximity to his left ear. It was worth it for the shot to go wild and land in the left knee of another agent.

Two shots went wild, followed by a series from an automatic. Clint spun behind a body, but he still felt the pang pang of two bullets smacking into his back. The pain blasted through him, but quickly faded away under his adrenaline rush. He shoved the butt of a nearby gun skyward, spun it over the agent's shoulder, strangled him with the gun's strap, and emptied the cartridge into the men around. Within a few seconds, Clint had taken out twelve of the fifteen. The others stumbled away from his grasp. Three arrows ended them.

The flare fizzled out. Clint pushed his sunglasses back to the top of his head, and glanced around in the darkness. There had been a few technicians milling around initially. Some might have built up the gusto to come at him, but for the most part, he knew they wouldn't. Given the chance of facing him, after what they'd surely heard him do in the darkness, or slipping away into the night, he was sure they'd done the latter.

Clint leaned down and grabbed one of the night vision goggles off of a dead agent. He felt around for their strap, expanded it, and fed it over his own eyes. He reached his hand back and pressed along the two gunshots he knew he'd been hit with. His hands came away clean. No blood. At least Stark's coat worked for distant gunshots. It wasn't perfect. His kidney had probably formed a bruise by now, and the second shot slammed right into his spine. He shook it off for now. He wasn't dead, or paralyzed. That meant he could keep going.

Clint tried his comm again. "Stark, you dead out there? Thor, did you jumpstart him? Anyone copy?"

The dead airspace was all that reached him. Somewhere beneath him, a generator which had been knocked out, kicked on again. He heard a whir of motor spinning, and within a few moments, the auxiliary light system kicked on. A smile found its way to his lips, and he shed the goggles. He wasn't a big fan of the tech to begin with, and working without it was preferable.

He finished a cursory sweep of the command center. Beside a few technicians crammed together beneath a desk, which he kept in place with a little jolt of electricity, the room had been evacuated. Initially, he started his sweep on the eastern entrance. Now he crossed to the interior door, and followed it to the very heart of the central tower.

Since the EMP set off, the area seemed to clear, like rats escaping a sinking ship. It was possible that had been the play all along. Lights go out, abandon post, and take as many Avengers as possible with you. Since Fury was a SHIELD contact, with less and less involvement on any Avengers details since his supposed death a year ago, they probably didn't expect the entire team to come after him. Clint was hoping Hydra hadn't found the connection between himself and Laura or Cooper, but that was something for Stark to figure out.

There was little resistance the further into the base he pushed himself. The place had little adjustments made to its layout since its original construction nearly five hundred years previously. Modern influences, like the halls of exposed lighting strung up beneath basket cages, reminded Clint more of being in a submarine rather than in a medieval castle in the middle of Europe. The small, drafty halls, with their tall narrow windows, gave way every so often to massive halls like the command post he'd left behind. Some were full of boxed mechanics.

He glanced inside, as he moved through their rows, to find some of the more advanced Hydra weaponry they'd encountered at other bases. Laser guns, with qualities similar to Stark's repulser waves, could leave a nasty hole in someone if the beam was concentrated enough. A few of the gun crates had been raided, not surprisingly, meaning the higher tech might be in play should he come across more splinter groups.

A spray of bullets hailed down on him from an upper balcony that circled the room on three sides. He dipped down beside the high walls of the crate and yanked an arrow free. A second wave of gunfire joined the first at nearly a forty-five degree angle from his position. If there were more guns up there, they were trying to box him in, taking turns shooting so neither mags emptied at the same time. It might have been smart, if it wasn't a technique Clint himself had been taught in basic. And where there's a way to do something, there is also a way to do something about it.

Clint wrapped his fingers between the edges of the nearest crate, and slid it away. In the small crevice created, he wedged his bow through, and met the first man. It became a contest of who had the faster trigger finger. Clint won.

He tumbled forward, came up, and while the second guy was busy watching his buddy topple over the railing to the bottom floor, Clint sprung out of his position. He sent an arrow through his eye, and didn't wait to see the body drop. There were still halls to clear on the first floor before he headed up. Hopefully the EMP wasn't wreaking havoc on Stark's reactor. He had ten minutes to make the rendezvous they planned in the center of the second floor. If Stark didn't make it, then he'd have to go looking for him.

"Hawkeye in, I'm sweeping my end. Anyone got a bead on Stark?" He asked the dead radio waves. Nothing came back to him. If Tony was alive, he'd be working like a madman to get their comms back online. If he wasn't, then this mission was going to get that much more complicated.

Clint cursed under his breath. It felt almost good to taste the words. He'd been attempting to steer clear of his more famous outbursts since Lila was around, and, heaven help them, so had Stark. The billionaire practically radiated bad vocabulary, and the last thing Clint wanted when his wife came home was to hear Lila's new favorite word.

The thought of it propelled him forward again. Five splinter groups stood between him and the second floor, and though it took time to fight his way through them, they were no match for an Avenger on a mission which hit so close to home. He fought like a man possessed, hitting his targets one after another as he cut through the mortal men on his journey upward. He met a few of those advanced weapons, but none were in capable enough hands to do any real damage.

Arriving at the top of the second level, he met a temporary bottleneck on the landing. It lasted as long as it took him to find another explosive tip. Bottleneck destroyed. He sailed through the smoke and smoldering bodies of the ex-agents before spilling into another open hallway. There were three paths; the one ahead, he could see led into a banquet-like hall, similar to the others he'd encountered full of Hydra tech. The left curved up and around the outside edge of the tower base, and disappeared around an unlit corner. The right did the same.

A majority of all humans were right handed. Naturally, when presented a choice of right or left, a right handed person would pick the right side more than the opposite. When he was taught to clear a room of assailants, he started from the right and worked the room from that point. If another nest of Hydra went hiding up the stairs, they'd head to the right. He followed suit.

The halls on the second floor weren't as well maintained, if such a term could be applied, as that of the first. The submarine lighting flickered in and out of use as he jogged his way down the echoing passages. There were a series of off-shoots to the central hall he encountered. Some led to spacious rooms, once occupied by guests or nobility in some ancient time, now left to rot in their World War II era cots and canvas bedding. One of the rooms, though, caught his eye.

There was a staircase in its corner, leading straight down. He was on the southern edge of the complex and, poking his head inside, he could see that the stairs also spiraled up. It was likely the room connected somehow with the central spire. The dust had cleared from the room under heavy foot traffic. None existed on the stairwell, which was well lit all the way down to the abyss below. If there was any better lead, he hadn't found it.

Abandoning the rest of the second floor, he decided to take a chance. He grabbed one of his arrows, and backtracked to the hall again to jam it into the wall. If Tony saw it, he might make the connection that Clint took the stairs down. Before deciding to search on his own, he tapped the comms again. After attempting another call check and getting nowhere, he abandoned the idea and went on alone.

He had a sense for direction. Like an internal compass lined up on the Earth's magnetic field, he could feel himself dropping lower than the first level into the catacombs beneath the central structure. There was no entry on the first floor into the strangely hidden staircase. Whoever constructed it, must have thought of the access way as an escape route. It had the same mysterious feel to it.

A few cobwebs snagged at his elbows from the damp stone walls. Someone, or a team, had already come down and disturbed the spiders, causing their silk to drift uselessly through the air in front of him. The two bullets he'd deflected in his back were beginning to match the crescendo he ignored in his knee. The three of them might as well leave him be, Clint hadn't planned to stop until the entire base was torn apart, or his family was back in his arms again.

A flap of wings sent him ducking temporarily. Five bats, stirred from his presence, went screaming into the higher halls above his head like shrieking ghouls. Clint tried to shake off the momentary surprise, and straightened again. The staircase was coming to its first halt. Below him, the stones continued spiraling down, a real Frankenstein's castle creation, while here in the labyrinth it developed an exit.

Clint spied beneath the stone archway into the darkness beyond. Again, the dust had been disturbed under a few dozen boot prints, prints and scuff marks he recognized from the floor in his house. He could get off here, or keep spiraling down. Either way, he should leave a sign for Stark if the man wasn't dead.

An overhead light blinked on, popped, and fizzled out. In the temporary shine, he could see a lengthy hall that spilled into what appeared to be another open hall. Weighing his options, he decided to get off here. He took an arrow head from his pant pocket, and jammed it into the grout between two stones at the top of the arch. At least it would give the others a fighting chance of finding him this deep underground.

The overhead light popped on again with a sick, sizzle, like bacon in a frying pan. Its single bulb doing the work of half a dozen more blown out along the stretch ahead. Clint stuck to the corners of its glow, and peered into the open hall.

He thought initially that it was all a single floor, but now realized that he'd been led to a series of interconnected catwalks that ran above a lower hanger. His assessment of the place as a Hydra supply base, seemed more likely, given the sheer number of crates packed into the tight space. There had to be a third, larger entrance into the underground labyrinth for the Hydra commanders to even attempt fitting all the cargo into the hanger. He hoped Steve or Natasha had some luck in finding it.

Full sized jeeps, Humvees, old plane parts, more munitions boxes than he could count, were all stacked in a sort of organized chaos down there. Why Hydra needed such intense military grade weaponry this far into Eastern Europe, he couldn't quite understand. His thoughts drifted back to Hill's old report, trying to piece it all together.

Sokovia, a base only fifty miles from them, was quickly climbing its way to the top of their list as locations for Loki's scepter. If that was the case, having these supplies readily available made all the sense in the world. He filed the information away for now.

"CLINT!"

The scream caught him up short. His breath halted in his chest as if someone had socked him right in the gut. He spun in place, looked over his shoulder, and locked eyes with her.

"Laura," he wanted to scream her name, but settled for a whisper of utter disbelief. He tracked his way across the catwalks, scaled a small staircase, and found his way across the room. He hit the far wall, and followed the elevated paths to the old dungeons left from times past.

"Clint, my God, Clint!" she cried when he appeared. Her arms fed through the bars, dragging his body against her with only the rusted steel standing between them. Clint wrapped her against him, his face pressing as hard as it could against hers.

"I found you, I've got you, I'm not letting you go!" he exclaimed, breathless in his utter relief.

"Dad!"

Clint's eyes glanced over her shoulder, and there was his son. Cooper's hands joined his mother's as their small fingers tugged for purchase on his Kevlar coat. The archer leaned down and pressed his lips into the boy's hair.

"I heard you, I got your message, and I came to get you. You are so smart, you know that?" His heart was overwhelmed in the moment. He could hardly think.

"I knew you would, dad, I knew it! I told mom, didn't I, mom? I said it, right?"

Laura's eyes filled with relieved tears as she pressed her face against his hair. When she turned to Clint again, her heart dropped.

"No!" She screamed.

Clint tried to turn. He felt his wife's hand reach for the sidearm he kept in the leg holster. Neither were fast enough to stop the shooter. The Hydra agent had one of the enhanced weapons. Before Clint could face him, he fired. The laser shot tore through the archer. The fight flooded out of him as he hit the dungeon bars. His dilated eyes locked onto his wife's, noticing the splatter of blood, his blood, speckling her face.

"Daddy!"

"Clint! Clint, no!"

His knees buckled, and Clint's body began to sink.

* * *

umm...

yeah...

i know you'll stew till the next update:)

Coming up: escape the compound. fight to live.

Please keep reviewing!


	11. Chapter 10

oh...so sorry for where we ended last time. But really, I'm not sorry. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

In response to the overwhelming feedback, I've responded to everyone!

Thank you to:::

wedobeamurican: oh, Claura is happening!

Guest "Jump Starting Stark": meaning his suit may have shorted out in the EMP blast, and Thor is their go-to for getting him back running

AvengerOfFiction:i read this review like fifteen times. NEVER gets old!

Ivy: no promises

Aini NuFire: Welcome back!

BlackxValentine: how could I? oh...oh I have done much, much worse.

newsyd: Your english is perfectly fine! wonderfully done! You should see some of the grammar I've screwed up, and I do speak english:)

a239: we are all sick in the head I think.

5mairer: welllll...cause I love getting reviews like yours

penguincrazy chapter 10 . Jun 15

love it but very mean/evil cliffhanger. I love hardcore Clint and really glad to see hm reunited with Laura and Cooper.

Ms. Hawkeye: HAHAHAHAHAHA...that's all i can say.

.ROX : Thank you!

khaitosfren: only a suspicion? I plan to make it fact.

TortoisetheStoryteller: Thank you! i'm having a lot of fun writing them now!

8839: I know! i was like, you go laura, you get his gun and shoot the guy!

brandibuckeye: no guarantees on survival!

m klindt: hahahahahah!

amy. .9 : she's such an awesome chick!

DatNatCatThoe: steel yourself!

tlyxor1:LOL!

lizarddbreath: here's your update!

casania: I love cliffhangers!

BookLuv: no guarantees. I'm a killer.

JRBarton: STILL my favorite review. Mostly because i can totally imagine what your face is doing when those final lines crossed the screen.

Death is inevitable: here's the update! let's stay friends!

Niom Lamboise: Clint need a rescue? oh, we can't have that:)

fezwearingjellybananas: LOL! Yeah, i was checking the state of Claura and there are still too few. that wound of losing Natasha's love interest is just too raw i guess:)

jensmit75: here you go!

CandyGirl999: oohhh, I can, and I will!

Pinkypop22: Awe, thank you! It may be hard watching your ship sink, but I really do love these possabilities!

Daughter of the North: there is something about that small moment with Steve, where he takes the lead, is commanding them in the fight, that is beautiful in a way. Like a slice of life, a glimpse of their lives.

Liliththestormgoddess: yes, yes it was.

ThePenguinApocalypse: here you go!

WestonFollower: I love that you were reading this on your phone. I can just imagine you curled up, poised over the screen, going no, no, no, no, no!

Chinagirl18: DAW! i loved that!

ShadowPhoenix22: MUHAHAHAHAHAHA. i live on the tears of others.

IWriteSinsOrTragedies: hahahaha.

discordchick: Oh, Fury... we will see what has become of that man.

Wonderwomanbatmanfan: But Clint's like a moth. He's directed toward the light.

* * *

 **Avenge Me**

Chapter 10

 _Stand up, Barton. Stand up, now, or they're dead. You know they are._

 _On your feet._

 _Grab your gun._

 _Shoot him._

 _SHOOT HIM!_

Clint fought against his own body's need to go into shock. He forced his hand down the length of him, grabbed the snap clip that held his sidearm in place, and flicked it off with his thumb. Keeping to small movements, not trusting he could make big ones, he tilted the gun out of its holster and angled it down the catwalk. Half a second later, the Hydra agent was dead along with the four man company he'd rounded the corner with.

Barton stayed on the floor, panting through the pain as he tried to understand exactly what happened. He remembered standing. His wife's arms around his, then a white hot nothing cut through him.

 _Shot. I think I got shot._

He glanced down at his side, finding the flow of blood leaking out of his chest onto the floor grate. Seeing it, remembering it was there, hurt. He pressed his arm a little tighter against his body and tried to simply forget again. Something tugged at his jacket. Someone. His wife.

"Lau—" he managed before his side squeezed like a vice. The pain shot through him and for a moment he went blind from it.

The hand jerked his collar, dragged him closer. He needed to get up. She was pregnant, she shouldn't be lifting heavy things, her husband included.

"Dad? DAD?!"

His son, Cooper. He must have been terrified watching his father get shot in front of him. The boy had been so strong. Clint couldn't let that spirit break now. He had to get up.

 _Get up._

Clint moved his hands first, reaching beside him to loop his fingers through the bars. Laura and Cooper both tried to help him. They were saying something, but his brain was too focused on standing to translate it. He brought one knee under him, the good one, and kicked the other leg out sideways. The blood flow dropped beneath his coat and down his waist. He tightened his arm against his side to try and stem it. He inched his hand up the rungs, tightened the grip, and pulled with everything he had. The bad leg dragged closer, got under him, and supported his weight enough for him to extend the second foot. Laura grabbed his belt loop and yanked him up.

The door was still locked. He had to get them out. Using his bow might not be the best idea, but he had an acid-tipped arrow just for this occasion. He leaned on the doorway, reached back and pulled an arrow down from his quiver.

"Back, back up. Back away from the door," he told his wife and son.

Without questioning him, Laura took Cooper aside and they moved deeper into the cell.

Clint jammed the arrow into the age-old, turnkey lock and moved slightly away. The room filled with the fizzling pop of the lock melting beneath the influence of hydrofluoric acid. When the lock gave way, the entire door swung inward under the weight of the archer it work to keep upright. Laura caught its swing and worked around the front to take him in her arms again.

"Clint, lay down, let me look at it. You have to stop, now, and let me—"

Clint kept his arm against his side, preventing that old doctor half of her from rearing its head. He tried to smile at her. "What are you going to do? Avenge me?" He tried to laugh, but it ended swiftly. "No time. Gotta get out of here. Comms down. I'll be all right." Telling her he was fine and showing her were two very different ideas. He found some reserve energy and used it to push away from the door frame. He stood in front of her. "Coop, come on, we need to go. The team's waiting."

Laura grabbed his arm, forcing his eyes to meet hers again. The fear, the worry that plagued her the entire time she'd been gone came to the surface. His hand pressed against her face, tracing a small circle beneath the curve of her jaw. The sensation against his skin was like pure electricity. It banished whatever pain he might have felt beneath that euphoria of having her back again.

"I need to get you safe," he whispered. If it was the last thing he could do, he was getting his family out of that dungeon. Laura seemed to accept it, though he could see her little bit of stubbornness peaking through. Switching his attention to Cooper, he brought his son closer.

"Dad, are you ok?" the child asked, shaking.

"I'm ok, Coop. Daddy's fine. Look, we aren't in a good spot. I'm not going to lie to you about that," Clint said gently, "You stay right behind me, understand? Right behind. If I move, you just hit the ground and don't get up until I say to. Can you do that?"

Cooper nodded. His eyes darted down to Clint's sleeve. He could see the red pooling around it.

"Coop," Clint reached forward and held his son's chin. "Don't look. I don't want you to look. Keep your eyes down. I'm going to have to do my job now, and I don't want you to be scared of that. I'm getting you and mom out of here and I'm doing everything I have to so you can be safe. So don't look."

Clint took his free arm and draped it over the boy's shoulder, trying not to use his own son as a crutch. He angled Cooper against his good side, Laura sidled up next to him, and as a unit they followed Clint's lead. Her hands circled the boy between them and grasped the tail of Clint's jacket. She pulled again away to see the ridges of her fingers stained in red.

Not bothering to stop, knowing they couldn't afford to, Clint led them around the outside edge of the catwalks. He scanned for any sign of Nick Fury but, finding none, took the first staircase he came across downward. The hanger had at least one exit to the surface that he knew about. The main one would be guarded, most likely, unless the Hulk or Cap had come across it. Taking the southern tunnel entrance should spill him out into Steve's position. The Captain was the closest to their escape, and he had the best chance of getting them out of harm's way, fast. Clint indicated the direction to Laura and they stuck to the shadows to reach it.

He whispered to Laura, "Nick?"

"They took him out days ago. I don't know where," she replied.

Clint scanned the area again. Truthfully, he had zero reserve left to go hunting down Fury after the shot he took. It was just as well the ex-SHIELD director wasn't around. Maybe he'd gotten himself free and was waiting for a chance to get back in for the family. Maybe he was in one of the upper rooms Clint overlooked. Either way, that was something for another Avenger to deal with. He had what he came for.

All of the underground exits were blocked, unsurprisingly. He counted at least twenty men on the North side with another thirty blocking the south. The largest cluster gathered around the various utility vehicles at the main entrance. It seemed Hydra was planning to abandon ship with as much tech as they could take. He couldn't blame them, but at the same time, he couldn't take all of them on himself either. Luckily, none of them seemed to be concerned with the earlier gunshots.

Laura could see the agents just as well as he could. "Your bow?" she asked.

"Not sure I can," he replied without expanding on the detail. He was out of exploding tips. He could send a volley of standards into them and hope the men scatter, but that would eventually attract every other group too, and some of those trucks they loaded had decent heavy artillery on them.

"Split up? I could take your gun—"

He shook his head. Not that he didn't have full confidence in her ability, but the idea of sending her away with Cooper in one direction and him in the other didn't seem right either. He eased forward, tucking them up between rows of supplies with one massive green trunk parked in front of them. He lifted the back canvas's edge, noted a few dozen armed men inside, and carefully dropped it down again before they had a chance to see him. Placing a finger against his lips, they moved forward again, rounded the front of the truck, and started down another aisle. The weaving way took them closer to the South entrance. Being close, and getting through the armed soldiers were two very different problems, though.

Diesel and gunpowder permeated the air along with an undertone of pure ozone. Advanced munitions must have been packaged up in the crates around them. He attempted to stretch up and pry something free, but it would take a jigsaw, or a hammer at the least, to wrestle one of the guns out. He abandoned the plan and continued to guide them onward.

"Hey! How'd you get in here?!" Someone shouted.

Barton looked left to see one of the side alleys between the supplies had filled with a group of faceless Hydra men. Clint shot up in place, grabbed his sidearm, and buried two slugs into the closest agent's forehead. Pushing his family out of the firing line, he closed the distance between himself and the others. Two more shots felled the furthest agent. He grabbed one by the shirt front and dragged him to the ground. As his boot connected with the guy's face, his fist intercepted another. Someone got their gun up and he dropped beneath the closest man to elicit a good course of friendly fire. Using the bullet-ridden body, he forced himself forward, grabbed the shooter, drove his elbow into the man's neck and turned the gun on him. He empty the chamber of his and the Hydra weapons. Six men down.

"Hawkeye!"

Clint spun around, grabbing his side as a wave of dizziness and nausea slammed into him. He looked up to see Laura fighting with someone clad in black. His son screamed, kicked one in the shin, and tore off toward his father. One of the Hydra agents raised his pistol, aiming for the child's back.

"No!" Clint screamed. "Drop! Coop, drop!"

As if they'd practiced it, the boy threw himself to the floor, pressing his hands over his head. Clint grabbed three arrows from his quiver and pierced all three into the agent's chest. The momentum threw him off balance, and he stumbled to the ground on his bad knee, eliciting a howl of pain. A few more of the endless sea of blackguards flooded the aisle. They tore Laura between them as she fought them off as best as she could. One hadn't secured his knife, so she stole it, jammed it into his flesh and twisted the handle in place. Unable to pull it out again, she groped for something else to use, found a pair of unprotected reproductive organs and twisted those too. As the two men went down, another three came up beside her. Clint tried to pull another arrow out, but they raised a gun against her temple. One move and she was dead.

Then, the unexpected happened.

Clint's radio cackled to life in his ear. The quality was poor at first, as if the speaker communicated through a granite throat. A few seconds later, it cleared.

"I'd ask if you wanted a hand, but I think you got this."

"That I have! Have at thee villains!"

Clint was forced to bury his face in the crook of his elbow as the world around them burst awake in the dawn of pure lightning. A crack of thunder followed the slam of Thor's hammer against the floor only inches away. When Clint could lift his head, his friend was already standing and extended his hand to help him up. The place was nearly unrecognizable from only a moment before. The aisles of crates ad exploded outward under the impact of the directed lightning. Cooper uncovered his ears and glanced around at the utter carnage. The Hydra agents unfortunate enough to suffer Thor's wrath were nowhere to be seen. Those with laser-targeted gunshot wounds courtesy of Tony Stark collapsed in a heap on either side of their former hostage, Laura, who stood between them, wondering whether it was safe to move or not.

"We were fortunate to have found your trail, my friend," Thor said, grinning widely.

Tony hovered close by, releasing a few blasts from his repulsers at the closest tunnel exit. He cleared the pathway for them. "Uh, yeah, reunion later, escape first. Am I the only one still on the clock?"

"You might not be "on the time" if I had not restarted your glowing heart!" Thor declared.

"Uh, yeah, I don't work that way anymore, remember? Suit just went into stasis. I didn't die." Tony flew a little lower. "Mrs. Hawkeye, nice to meet you. I think your daughter might own half my company by the time we get back."

"Lila! You have her!" Laura exclaimed.

"And how. I'm not sure you're getting her back." Tony directed a thumb toward the tunnel. "Might I suggest an exit stage right?"

"Yes," Clint said. He waved a hand toward Cooper who'd been struck still in starry-eyed merriment of the two heroes. "Cooper, go with Thor. Just hang on tight." Clint shot a glance at the Asgardian. "I'm trusting you with my son. Do _not_ drop him."

Thor made a flourishing bow. "It is my honor to be so trusted. Come, lad! We fly!" He took the boy around the waist and within moments they were sailing down the south entrance together.

Clint directed Tony to his wife. "Stark, please, get her out of here."

Tony piloted himself closer and landed beside her. "Got it. Widow's bringing the jet around."

"No, wait!" Laura objected as Tony kindly, but firmly, cradled her in his arms. "Clint, what about you! You can't even—"

"Tony, hurry! I'll meet you at the entrance." Clint cut her off. It didn't matter if Stark knew he'd been shot. The man would make the same call every time. Women and children first. Avengers second. Clint signed up for this kind of life, they didn't, but that didn't mean it hurt any less watching her horrified face sail away in Iron Man's grasp.

He wasn't alone. The room was full of men still Hell bent on taking out any opposition they could muster. A limping, shot, bleeding Hawkeye made as a good a target as anyone else they happened to encounter.

"Ok, Clint, you got them back. Let's see if you actually get to see them ever again."

Ejecting the spent cartridge on his sidearm came first. He fed another mag into the weapon and snapped the slider back to feed in the first round. Making the final push for the tunnel was no easy task, and he spent the entire clip trying to make it there in one piece, but the minute he hit the rolling darkness and freezing winds, Hydra seemed to lose interest in him. A light heralded clear skies a quarter mile from where he stood. He only had to hang on a little longer and make it there. His side throbbed with the constant sheering pain. This one wasn't going to be an easy fix around the coffee table while the others poked fun at him.

The light ahead of him darkened for a moment as the outline of a man blocked his view. The shadow towered over him. The copious shadows with no light behind him worked in tandem to keep Clint shielded from view. He tried to make out the form, friendly or not, but raised his weapon just in case. The blurring edges of his vision overwhelmed what little good eyesight he had left. The radio cackled to life in his ear.

"Hawkeye, come in!"

Steve's voice hit him twice over, echoing in the cavern and through his comm. A sigh of relief washed over the archer.

"Cap, you're lucky I didn't actually shoot." Clint told him, making the final steps into the light of the snow-bathed day. He'd holstered his side arm in the cavern and stood panting beside the Avenger's leader. He reached his second hand against his side and tried to stifle the blood flow, though nothing seemed to work.

"Well if you did, I'd know it was you. You never miss. What took you so long? Stop for coffee?" Steve replied with a smile. He started off down a path. "Come on. Widow rounded up Fury at the North Entrance and he's at the jet now. Thor and Stark should be there already. I know you're ready to get back to your family." He turned a little to see what Clint might say. After all, this was one victory they could really bask in. The local authorities had already arrived on scene and planned to subvert whatever pieces of the Hydra base had been left intact. The Avengers had not only rescued all the hostages, they'd also developed a hard link to the base in Sokovia along the way. Most of the diverted heavy gunnery were heading in that locations. They'd found stacks of stamped passport books along with enough evidence to warrant a hard hit of that base the minute things calmed down.

Given all the good news they were walking away with, Steve was surprised to turn around and find Clint hadn't even left the mouth of the cavern. He slowed. "Hey, what's up? You forget your favorite duds down there or something?"

Clint didn't raise his head. He took a few steps forward, his legs crossing and stumbling down the gentle slope. He ran headlong into a birch with his shoulder and stood there, letting nature prop him up.

Steve took a few steps back to him. "Clint, look, they're ok. Everything's going to be—Clint!"

Clint pitched forward off of the tree, tried to walk again, but fell. He collapsed to his knees, offering a weak cry as they connected with the hard packed snow. His body sat back on his calves and wondered whether it might be better to just lie down in the snow or sit up. For now, he just sat.

"Hey? Hey, Hawk, can you hear me? What happened? Oh my G—Clint is this yours? Move your arm! Barton, please, listen to me, move your arm and let me look at this!" Steve fought against the sudden stupor his teammate fell into. He tugged at Clint's tucked in elbow, his eyes never leaving the expanding blood pool forming in Barton's lap. The Captain's own heart rate skipped forward half a dozen beats.

"I . . . Cap, my kids?"

"They're fine, but you're not," Steve told him, he found the fried edges of Clint's coat and saw the charred flesh wound bleeding beneath. "Clint, did you know you got shot? Hey, don't do that, keep looking at me!"

Clint's shoulders went slack and his head hung forward. All at once he seemed to deflate. Steve grabbed hold of him as the archer fell sideways against the beaten path. Clint took a single sharp breath and released it in a hiss. His eyes fought to focus but he couldn't seem to manage it.

"My kids," he whispered again, fighting to hang onto consciousness.

Steve pulled the zipper down on Clint's coat and yanked the fabric away from the wound, exposing a tidal wave of blood that had pooled around his waist. He took a few handfuls of snow and packed them in against Clint's wound. He could still feel the heat from the thermal/chemical blast charring the flesh.

"We've got them, Clint, but they're going to need you, which means you have to hang on for me," Steve told him, packing the snow a little tighter.

Clint gasped, arching his back where the two other deflected shots were already turning purple and raised. "It's bad."

"It's not good!" Steve affirmed. He switched to his comms. "I need that transport here ASAP. Hawkeye's down. Get the trauma kit pulled. He's gonna need it."

Clint clamped his hand around the Captain's bicep. Steve paused. He drew in close enough to hear his teammate's whisper.

"If . . . If I do—don't. Take care of—"

"Clint? Clint, stay with me!"

* * *

oops, i did it again.

made a cliffhanger

hahahahahahahaha

Coming up: Saving Clint. Green smoothies.

Please keep reviewing!


	12. Chapter 11

**Thank you To::**

PilotDante, brandibuckeye, m klindt, penguincrazy, 8839, TortoisetheStoryteller, amy. .9 , lizarddbreath, ShadowPhoenix22, khaitosfren, CandyGirl999, ZeDancingHobbit,

Aini NuFire, Niom Lamboise, DatNatCatThoe, Wonderwomanbatmanfan, Liliththestormgoddess, ThePenguinApocalypse, I-OfTheHawk, WestonFollower

FangirlOfHawkeye: Thank you!

AvengerOfFicion: all of this made me laugh so hard:)

ELOSHAZZY: I raise your OML with an OMT and an OMO

natashgriz: bahahahahahahaha!

tlyxor1: you only hurt the ones you love:) oh, and your enemies...and people who cheat on you...and...

5mairer: this comment made my day. TOO funny!

BookLuv: you haven't cried yet? Obviously, i must try harder. Or, you haven't read Where the Worlds Burn. (sinister evil smile inserted here)

Daughter of the North: A sacrifice to follow me. Yup, that pretty much sums me up.

Death is inevitable: I'm really not sure what is going to happen after this story. We will see!

discordchick: mind. reader.

JRBarton : Hanger...hahahaha...I miss you:)

IWriteSinsOrTragedies: ohhh yes you did:)

 **Avenge Me**

Chapter 11

It resembled watching the hysteria which follows a flash flood. At first, there is calm, joviality, and the sense of a mission accomplished. Thor arrived first, letting go of his payload in the back of the Aven-Jet, while Natasha kept the engines running hot for Stark to take over when he arrived. Then, when he did appear, and the streak of gold and red settled down for the newly acquainted Mrs. Barton to scramble free of him, the mood changed drastically.

"You have to go back!" She cried, swiping her hand against the flecks of drying blood over her face. From his spot in the corner, Banner began to stand. She'd been worked over, that was obvious. Her eye was black and swollen. Dried blood collected beside a rim of inflammation above her lip. From his side, Bruce could see four perfect imprints. A man's hand had, at one time, circled her neck and squeezed hard enough to leave a brand behind.

"Go back?!" Stark exclaimed. He slid the visor of his helmet up. "There's not exactly anything left to go back to. We got everyone out. I even untied Commander Fury-pants from his - " He looked around. "Wait...aren't we missing someone?"

"Fury slipped out the minute you left. Didn't want to stay for the free ride," Bruce said, stepping around Tony. "Mrs. Barton, my name is - "

She held her palms out, stopping his approach before he could even start it. "I know who you are, and I'm telling you, you made a mistake! Someone has to go back and get him, he isn't well! He was - "

The radio above them switched on. The captain checked in, dropping the news that Laura herself so desperately hoped to convey before it was too late. Clint was in bad shape.

Tony's helmet slammed closed again, and he was gone like a shot. Bruce swept his hand toward the seats along the side of the jet, inviting Laura to get off her feet. Cooper was already sitting. Thor grabbed a handhold on the rigging along the ceiling a few feet from Clint's son. Natasha was already working to get the jet brought around closer to Steve's position.

"Make sure you are secure. Until your father comes, you are my responsibility, and I shall not be the one to tell him you tumbled out of the jet," Thor said.

Cooper closed his mouth with a snap and searched around for two matching buckles. Beside him, his mother found a set and helped tighten them. She accepted her own pair from Bruce, who hovered close by.

"Did he tell you we have Lila?" Bruce asked. In the front cabin, Natasha made a few curt maneuvers with the controls, sending the jet into a near ninety degree turn. Bruce scrunched his nose, trying to keep his stomach more level than the plane.

"Tony did, and thank you. Is she all right? Where is she?"

"Back at the Tower making your next down payment with her lemonade business." Bruce smiled, trying to keep the mood light. "She's really something."

"She's Clint's little girl," Laura admitted.

"He says that a lot to her, but if you ask him about it, he says it's all your doing." Bruce's conversation with Laura ended the moment Tony burst back into the jet, carrying Clint and Steve both. The captain dropped down off Stark's back, and helped arrange a mobile table into the center of the room. He brushed a few maps onto the floor, and moved back long enough for Tony to lay Clint down.

"Watch it! Thor, drag that table over! Easy! Natasha, level this jet out! Lay him down, lay him down. All right, everyone take a few steps back and let me work for a second. Where's the trauma kit?"

"Dad?!" Cooper exclaimed, pulling at his restraints to get up. Thor sank into the chair beside him, and held the boy back. It was better to let them stabilize Clint first, then to get underfoot, he tried to explain.

Laura was not so easily convinced. She unhooked herself at once, and pressed in beside Tony and Steve. The Iron Man stepped back to give them ample access to him. After all, besides Barton, he was the best pilot. He could get them back home, and Barton, to treatment, faster than Natasha could.

He double-blinked into the corner of his HUD, and the suit peeled open. He strode out and jogged to the front of the jet where he tapped Natasha on the shoulder. Wordlessly, she relinquished the controls to him. Within a few moments of settling in, they were off, rocketing toward home.

"You, start an IV. Do you know how to do that?" Laura asked, instantly taking command where once Steve might have.

Taken a little aback, the captain only nodded.

"Good, I want a shock bolus of this," she rifled through their kit as if her eight month-pregnant body owned it, and slapped a crystalloid down by Clint's arm. "Get the line in and open it up. Use an eighteen or bigger if you got it."

"Laura!"

Clint's wife turned, and Natasha handed her a pre-loaded syringe pen. She checked the contents, a pain cocktail, and held it for a moment. "Stethoscope in that bag?"

Bruce picked up the trauma kit from the opposite side of the table, and emptied the contents out. He picked up the mass of tubing and handed it over. He wasn't about to be the one to suggest she sit down and let the men take over.

"Cut this shirt off. Leave the jacket, I don't want to move him too much. Dr. Banner, see those styptic packs? Pull that snow out and press those on." Laura fed the earpieces in and leaned over her husband's chest. Steve ignored the scissors Natasha tried to hand him, and tore Clint's shirtfront down with his bare hands. All the commotion seemed to bring Clint around. At one time, he was staring aimlessly upward, now his eyes focused in on his wife's face over him. She glanced down.

"You big dummy," she said.

"Hey . . . is - isn't this how - "

She pulled the earpieces out, double checked the syringe contents, and emptied it into the side of his neck. He winced, shifting away as, at the same time, Bruce began applying the bandages.

"Line's in," Steve announced, hooking up the fluids and holding them over his head. He double checked for any bubbles along its length.

Clint looked around at the four of them. Laura, Natasha, Steve, and Bruce, all clustered in beside him. He wanted to say something witty, but another spike hit him like a red hot ramrod. He bit deeply against his bottom lip, forming fists with his hands.

"Isn't this how, what?" Laura asked Clint. She leaned over and double checked Steve's work, giving him a small nod of approval that the captain felt slightly ashamed for needing. He'd put more than a hundred lines into battlefield patients before. Why was it this time he felt like a newbie under her astute glare?

"Is - " he panted, wanting to make Banner stop but not finding the strength to make him. "Isn't this how . . . how I proposed?"

Laura smiled a little. "I told you, that didn't count. I said, 'Do you know how many of you - '"

"'Government stooges come in here . . . come in and ask to marry me?'" Clint finished the old quote. He closed his eyes, feeling the slight warmth of the pain drugs start to edge their way in.

"And you told me?"

"That I was . . . I was the first one that . . . I said it sober."

Her hand caressed along his cheek, inspiring the eyes out from beneath their lids once more. "You aren't leaving me with a pretty folded flag, a hero's send off, and three kids, Clinton Francis Barton. So you better pull yourself together and fight. You understand me?"

Slowly, his hand reached up for her. She met him halfway, letting him direct them both to his lips. He held her there as the exhaustion of the long week and his sapped energy simply crashed down all at once. "Yes, boss ma'am," he whispered.

At first, she thought he might have slipped unconscious, but after a few moments, Clint stirred again. He tried to sit up, but a gentle hand was all it took to keep him resting again.

"Coop? Cooper?" He called.

Cooper looked up at Thor, who nodded a little acquiescence. The boy sprung free from his restraints and ran across the cabin. Clint opened his arm up, letting the boy fall against his good side. He squeezed the child onto him.

"My brave kid. My smart son. Smarter than me. I love you, you know that? Don't cry, it's OK. Dad's gonna be fine. These guys take care of me. Don't worry, dad's fine."

The Avengers gave them a little space to reconnect. Laura had more than enough confidence to monitor Clint's care herself, and they didn't want to risk intruding on Clint's hardwon reunion. Up front, Stark continued to pilot them at his breakneck speed ever closer to the waiting medical team he'd called in from an old friend, Dr. Cho. Clint himself could care less. With his wife's hand in his and Cooper in his arms again, the rest of the world simply didn't matter anymore.

:(:):(:):

Tony Stark very rarely felt uncomfortable in his own home, and usually it was after doing something he knew would displease his one and only, Pepper Potts. Poised over the smoothie blender, he held the container in one hand and a cup in the other. Laura Barton stood, arms folded, only inches behind him.

"So, it's your fault," she muttered, as if coming to a great Sherlockian conclusion.

Tony finished pouring Clint's green smoothie into a cup, replaced the remnants onto its base, and turned. "I have no idea what you mean, and your current proximity is sort of freaking me out. To be perfectly honest."

"Smoothie Guy, the I-Need-A-Green-Colored-Something Guy. I could never get Clint to drink those until he started staying here. He says I don't make them right. What do you add? Wheat grass? Carrot juice?" Intrigued beyond restraint, she moved up beside him and perused his cocktail bar, turning various labels toward her. Finding one in particular, she held it up. "Kiwi? You add kiwi?"

Tony shrugged. "It's green."

She shook her head, looking over the ingredients. "The one thing I don't try. It's a little genius in a way. Should have just gone simple and save myself the heartache of two and a half years of getting it wrong. To be fair, though, I never got to taste yours, so I was working off of Clint's taste buds and, well..." Laura spun away from the counter to look at him gently, "He once tried to eat a black-bottomed pizza crust with jelly. We were out of bread."

Tony's previous discomfort vanished. He passed the drink to her, plopped the straw, and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Yeah, that sounds like something he would do. He has zero appreciation for sashimi."

"Have you ever tried to feed him avocado?" Laura directed the straw between her lips and tasted the green drink.

"That, I haven't."

"It's like watching a puppy with a lime." She pulled the smoothie away from her with a grimace. "OK, so I tried to make something that actually tasted edible. I shouldn't have tried so hard."

"That actually hurts a little to hear you say that."

"Case in point, Clint has no taste buds."

Bruce interrupted their conversation by entering the lab across from them. He smiled in their direction and headed over, pulling the sleeves of his sweatshirt down over his hands.

"How's the Hawk doing?" he asked, crossing his chest. He nodded at Tony. "You turn this place on frigid? Jeez, I feel like my nose has frost on it."

"Clint's fine, but he has the same mouth on him," Tony replied.

"Oh, that's terrible."

"I think Lila was playing with a remote control. If it powers your A/C, then I'm afraid she's to blame." Laura tipped the drink up in the direction of the upper lab by way of explanation, and moved toward the stairs. Bruce and Stark fell into step beside her.

Dr. Cho had been waiting, as Tony requested, the minute the Avengers hit the landing platform. Pepper thought it might be best to take Lila downstairs until they had a better idea of how Clint was going to pull through. Assured of his survival, the child was back to running the Avenger's floor with Thor hot on her trail.

Cooper hadn't taken much time away from his father's side, beside the bath his mother ordered him into. When the boy emerged from the grime of nearly a week in the Hydra dungeons, his black eye became more evident than ever. For now, he stayed just out of Clint's sight, though still in the upper lab with him. He didn't want to get his father too riled up over the damage someone had inflicted on him.

Bruce took a few steps ahead of the others, and pushed the glass doorway open. He swept his hand, inviting Laura ahead of him, and brought up the rear with Tony. Dr. Cho stood over her tissue replicator. She monitored the device as if she might be incubating a baby chick. Her face displayed none of the concern for its successful outcome that Banner typically experienced when his own experimental babies were tried out on the world. Then again, she had twice the success in half the attempts that he had on any of his experiments. She smiled, seeing them.

"Oh good, conversation that doesn't involve critique of my work."

"I wasn't critiquing. I was judging," Clint replied with a playful smirk. The look softened when Laura stepped between Bruce and Cho to hold out his smoothie.

"Decidedly gross, created by Mr. Stark," she reported. Her lithe fingers pointed the straw in his direction, but held the cup.

Clint's head rested on his arm, allowing Dr. Cho better access to the crater in his side. He claimed the tissue construction going on wasn't painful, but she could still see the lines of discontent furrowing his brow. Anger, embarrassment, maybe even a little emasculation kept those creases there. He might have saved his family, yet that didn't mean they weren't lost to begin with. He had nothing to do with their abduction himself. Keeping Fury away from them would have prevented it ever happening. He originally discounted the message entirely, considered throwing it away forever. If he had, he wouldn't have know they were gone for hours, maybe a day, until he called home again.

Laura could see that jumble of emotion rolling across his face, like wind might bow the backs of a grain field. He felt bent, he might have even felt a little broken too. Her job was simple, compared to the things he had to do. He had to save the entire world. She just had to save him.

"Stop that," she said, fine and firm as a granite gavel slamming onto a table top. "You're my hero, and you always will be. We can talk later about those things that'll try and keep you up at night, or the moat you probably want to dig around the house, but right now you're going to just lay there and feel better." She pushed the straw a little closer. "Now, drink this thing like I said to, and then maybe when you're done, I'll run to the store and grab some popcorn and a movie."

Clint lifted his free hand, to the disgruntled look from Dr. Cho who chastised him for fidgeting, and picked up the smoothie from her. "You are eight months pregnant, and some guy just held a gun to your head. No, you are not going to the store. You don't even have a car, and I am not giving you the keys to mine. Stark's got like a billion movies. We'll just find one here."

"Clint has a point. I think it's wise to stay a little local for right now." From behind her, Bruce appeared with one of the lab stools. He wheeled it beside Clint's head for Laura to sit beside him.

Laura thanked him and sat. "Do I have to remind you that you did not take out all those people by yourself?"

"No, you don't, and I don't care. I just got you back, I don't want you going out." Clint set the drink down on the table beneath him, and reached over to wrap his fingers around the mound of her belly. He could imagine the heartbeat there, pulsing under his fingers. The healthy little boy they created, still fighting and kicking his way before entering the world. Fury warned him against having three kids. The parents hit a home run with two amazing children, asking for a third was a sure-fire way of getting a little demon spawn of Clint Barton himself. He could still be right, but Clint didn't care. He'd been bit by the "daddy" bug. Those miniature ten toes, impossibly cute, stubby fingers, and the smell of new life were like an addiction. He would have a whole baseball team if Laura let him. She knew it too.

She placed a hand over his, and Clint's eyes traveled up to meet her. "I'm right here," she whispered. "You haven't scared me off, Clinton Francis Barton. I know what you are, and what you have to do sometimes to live and to save us. I love you the same today, as I did when you rolled into my ER on that gurney."

"You called me an idiot that day," he reminded her.

"You're _my_ idiot." She leaned forward and kissed his forehead like she might kiss Lila or Cooper. Wives often complained about having an extra child, their husband, and Laura supposed she was no different. It was a role, though, that she rather enjoyed. Clint never had much of a mother in life. He was naïve, blind even, to a few things that most humans might pick up. They didn't have a one-sided relationship. He gave her more than she could think of all at once. Happiness, adventure, intrigue, all that fodder in spy novels became her life the minute she took him at the altar and said "I do". Excitement, passion, freedom, he gave her all those things and more on a daily basis.

He smiled. "You're scrunching your nose again. You're going to get those funny little wrinkles like your mother, if you keep it up."

She threw her head to the side and laughed, landing a hand down on his arm. "Don't say that!"

"I'm just telling you the truth, sweet cheeks." He picked up the green protein shake, and finally decided to drink some of it down. He leaned up a little to watch Dr. Cho work, but the sight of it threatened to bring the smoothie back around again.

"Doc says, after this, you might have impenetrable skin. Can't say I would disapprove," Tony joked, leaning on the wall opposite of Laura.

"Hey, least the coat worked."

Bruce, who had been leaning over the machine readouts, glasses perched on the very end of his nose, straightened. He pulled his glasses off. "What do you mean? It's not designed for their advanced mechanics, and obviously," he indicated Clint's injury. "your armor didn't stand up against it."

"Well, no, really? I didn't notice. I mean my back. I got cornered when the lights went out. Took out a whole nest alone. A couple shots came pretty close. Wouldn't be walking if they made it through."

Tony pushed off his wall to stand by Bruce's side. The two of them hovered over Clint's face with critical expressions.

"So you field-tested it? Someone shot you other than the thing we're fixing right now?" Tony demanded.

"Yeah, twice. The one hit me right in the spine. Other, went a little west and caught the top of my kidney I think. Felt like someone shot me point blank with a rubber bullet."

"And you were still walking? Clint, that shot could have chipped your spine!"

"Clint Barton?"

The archer looked down at Dr. Cho.

"You're wife's right. You are an idiot."

"You got about as much bedside manner as she did whenever I showed up in the ER," Clint told her. His attention turned around the room, spying out something but not finding it. "Wasn't Coop here?"

Laura leaned back and folded her arms. It was cold in the room. She'd have to have a conversation with Lila about touching buttons. "Cooper hasn't moved from the end of your bed since I said he could come in."

Clint made a face, and his eyes traveled down past his feet to find the boy. "Coop? You hiding down there? It's OK, you can come out. Dr. Cho wont bite. I'm going to be fine."

A dark haired boy appeared across from him, glancing up the length of his father's body, past the man's naked chest. He hid the right side of his face behind the bottom of a boot. Clint's lifted head smiled, encouraging him closer. Laura held out her arms to him, and Cooper made the choice to get up. Crawling out from under the medical table, he sauntered over to them. He let his mother circle her arms around him and lean her chin on his shoulder. Cooper, ashamed, kept his face turned down at his dirty shoes.

"Coop, what's wrong?" Clint asked. He shifted a little, receiving a piercing look from Dr. Cho, and an electric jolt from the machine attempting to build him a new layer of skin. He set his drink to the side again. Tony leaned forward and picked it up before the cup took a tumble to the floor. Clint put his free hand beneath Cooper's chin, and lifted.

The dusty, dirt-caked hair parted on either side of Cooper's face. His fists were tight as he let his father look at the shotgun butt-shaped purple outline around his right eye socket. There was a half-moon cut on the rise of his cheek. It had healed in a thin, tight line rimmed in red and old blood. Most of him looked like someone had taken the Barton son, and dragged him through a mud pie before depositing the child in the dungeon. His shirt was frayed and shredded at the arms. His jeans' knees had deep holes. One was scraped up and filthy, like the time Cooper had been learning how to ride a bike and Clint let go of the seat too quickly.

The horror of what Clint saw on his son settled like a dark spirit over his face. His voice came out surprisingly calm. His entire body went rigid. "Cooper, are you all right? Did someone put their hands on you?"

Cooper took his chin out of Clint's hand with a sharp little turn. He tucked it back down against the torn collar of his shirt. "I didn't want them to find Lila. She was scared, and I didn't want them to find her. I told her to hide."

Clint remembered what Lila told him. About Cooper raising hell, making a run for it, and her hearing him cry out shortly after. Some Hydra killer put their hands on a child, his boy, and busted his face. He could have gone blind. Could have broken a bone, gotten a concussion, died. He knew what a shotgun butt injury looked like from personal experience. The internal turmoil raging through his mind finally started to seep into his words. It pitched in emotion.

"That wasn't your fault, son. This isn't your fault. You know how proud I am of you? I am. You took care of your sister and your mother. You're my man of the house, you know that? Are you feeling OK? Does your head hurt? Can you see OK?"

As his concern piqued, he tried to sit up and see Cooper's injuries a little better. Tony pitched forward and pressed a hand into Clint's shoulder to keep him down. Dr. Cho helped.

"Whoa, Hawk, stop jostling around!" Tony ordered.

Clint ignored him, but didn't try to move again. "Cooper, are you having any headaches? Are you dizzy? Bruce?"

The scientist moved over a little to be in Clint's line of sight without Clint having to move too much to see him. "What can I do?" he asked.

"Bruce, can you look at his head? You know, that scan thing? I want to make sure he's OK. Maybe we should bring him to the hospital. I can - "

Tony pushed down again, used both hands, and held firm. "No, you can't. You are staying put."

Bruce waved his hand in the air, as if scattering Clint's concern like lightning bugs in the air. "Hey, don't worry. I got an idea."

Laura moved her hands up to Cooper's shoulders, directed the boy to the door, and sent him off. "Go on. Dad and I will be right here. Dr. Banner's very sweet, you just let him do what he has to."

"Can't I stay here?" Cooper asked.

"It would make me feel a lot better to know that you are fine," Clint told him. His eyes turned to Laura and he whispered, "Maybe you should go with him. I don't want him to be scared."

It was a ridiculous request. The only one feeling any sort of tension in the room, was Clint Barton. After all the family had been through, she wanted to appease him at least a little. He needed to settle down, let the healing take place, and stop fidgeting so much. If she had to saunter off to let that happen, then she would.

"Ah, come on. We'll have fun. I'll show you JARVIS too. And maybe we'll get crazy and rearrange all the stuff on Tony's desk," Bruce said, setting off after the boy. He brought his forefinger and thumb together in a circle, with his other three fingers splayed in an "OK" sign in Clint's direction. It might have given them a little comfort. As for Tony, though, he considered rushing off after them.

When they'd gone, Clint let his head roll back along his arm. Through the glass wall, he watched Bruce fire up a brain scan protocol. It was a newfangled technology Tony appeared with one day, no explanation. Tony shifted a little to the left to give Clint a better view of his family.

"Can you do something for me, Tony?" Clint asked.

"I'll start searching Hydra's records to see if anything showed up about your house."

Clint's expression shifted from confusion to understanding. "Oh, that, yeah. Please, but that's not what I mean. Do you have some kind of building thing around here? Something that won't blow up or something? I'm worried about Coop. If something bothers him at school or something, he likes to tinker with his building things. I didn't bring any of them from home. I should've, but I didn't even think about it at the time."

The request surprised him. "I can find something, I guess."

"I think he'd like that."

* * *

so let's sum things up: Clint is such an adorable worry wort, Laura is so capable of managing her kids (Clint included), and poor cooper! What a great kid.

Coming up: Your 1940s is showing, and the not-so-perfect family

Please keep reviewing!


	13. Chapter 12

**So, i made a boo boo! When I was posting for i Can Hear the Drums the other night, I accidentally posted it under Avenge me, causing the mass notifications with links that didn't work. Sorry! Here is the actual new chapter!**

 **Thank you To::**

natashgriz, brandibuckeye, BookLuv, newsyd, IWriteSinsOrTragedies, penguincrazy, KatHarvey, Liliththestormgoddess, discordchick, ShadowPhoenix22, Ms. Hawkeye, Niom Lamboise , ThePenguinApocalypse, .ROX, lizarddbreath, Chinagirl18, CandyGirl999, 5mairer, Pinkypop22, Qweb

Daughter of the North: OHHHHH so many options!

DatNatCatThoe: AW! I loved this review! and I really am hoping this story kinda introduces the type of woman that we all know Clint needs. I never saw Laura as sheepish or "his little woman". someone like that just couldn't cut it with his life.

Aini NuFire: total unintetional movie weaving going on. but then it happened, and I was like OK! roll with it!

khaitosfren: BAHAHAHAHAH!

amy. .9: I like to think JARVIS indulges her mischief too:)

WestonFollower Uh, oh, someone's getting started on the Clint series. LOL. I hope everything you read you enjoy!

TortoisetheStoryteller

8839 Oh, there will be no brief cameos here:)

PilotDante: welcome to the family! please enjoy all of my Clint universe!

* * *

 **Avenge Me**

Chapter 12

Clint didn't want to go back to his room. He wanted to stumble down the stairs of the upper lab, shirtless and all, find his boy, his daughter, and his wife, then circle all three of them up on the couch and simply sit together. He didn't need to say anything, he just wanted to hold them, all together, again. Tony shooting that happiness down, stung.

"You need a shower."

"I'm fine. It's not that bad. I want to find my - "

"You _found_ your family. They're here and surrounded by all of us. They will, I'm sure, appreciate it if you clean yourself up." Tony picked up Clint's shirt off a chair. He inspected the filth and grime over it while Dr. Cho shifted her equipment away from the table. Clint swung his legs to the floor. Tony lifted the shirt, stuck his hand through the hole the advance weapon made. It was large enough to fit even his Iron Man suit's gauntlet through if he had the notion to try. "You are still covered in blood and Hydra parts. Go shower."

Clint thought about fighting him. He glanced down and noticed the streams of dried blood that flowed down either side of him. His trousers were caked in it. It didn't make the best homecoming sight for his family. Tony might have had a point. He groaned a little, pushing up off the table. His hand rubbed the new skin created over his side and pushed to his feet. The knee jerked up in annoyance while the purple outlines on his back felt raised and angry.

Tony saw them at the same time and dropped his hands a little. The shirt fell into the chair. A curse slipped between his lips.

"Language," Clint said, moving the hand to his back where it fished around for the pain radiating down to his kidney.

Tony cursed again, for no reason except to make it stick. Clint felt Iron Man's hand find its way along his skin. The foreign fingers made two wide circles on the sensitive skin of his back. "Gonna need to ice these. Take something. You'll be sore for a while, a long while. Don't make that water too hot. Cho?"

The doctor whistled. Tony's hands retracted, and a set of long cold fingers replaced them. Clint jumped a little and winced.

"Clint Barton, I do believe you have nine lives. Well, maybe five now."

Clint pulled away from them, slightly embarrassed about getting their hands all over him, and grabbed his shirt. He thought about pulling it on, but noticed the entire front had been ripped in half. He glared at it, and then at Tony.

"You were dying. Steve was trying to help."

Clint threw it back onto the chair and limped for the door. "Fine, shower. Happy?"

"Everyone with the ability to smell is happy," Tony replied, grinning. He watched as Barton stalked out of the lab and headed for his room. He wouldn't stay angry for long. Tony had suggested the same thing to Laura only five minutes ago. By now she'd be half undressed, and readying to enjoy her own bubble bath. The tubs in Avengers Tower could fit three men in them. He imagined it could fit Clint and his pregnant wife very comfortably. The mental image wasn't exactly something he needed.

The parents deserved a break after all they'd gone through. The baby, so far as they could tell, was jumping like a bean in a can. No one in Hydra had put their hands much on her, though they threatened it enough.

Fury didn't come back with them. A great decision on his part, given that Clint was liable to put a few bullets into him. According to Laura, Hydra was under the impression that Fury fathered her kids. That they'd been married in secret, and he'd kept them hidden from the world to safeguard what was his. In retrospect, the idea made sense to some. Why no one put together the fact that Cooper looked about as African American as an albino dog, was anyone's guess. Maybe they thought the second baby to come out might look like him. Who was to know?

Tony spent some time stealing information from one of the computers he'd encountered during his own search. He left the data on a drive in the lab, and with Clint off to enjoy some one-on-one, he considered looking through it. Cho stayed behind to pack her gear. Something in South Korea had popped up, forcing her to head home early. She never did stay long.

He picked up the data drive, and took out one of his drives to load the program. Tony paused, staring at the flash drive still stuck into the available port. It held the voice recording they'd all listened to near a week before when this all started. It made him remember the poor woman who lost her life. Her murder was still unsolved, according to local reports. Most likely it would stay that way unless someone turned up something. Tony made a mental note to look into that problem when he had a chance.

He switched the drives, and left the computer to download the information. There was a cardboard box beneath his work desk, and he dragged it into the open with his foot. Some of them were spare parts, circuits, and gyros he'd abandoned all hope for. In the bottom, he had an old drone with a helicopter rotor. The screws were stripped, and the band running the spinning duel rotors had snapped three or four years ago. Given his new technology, it was an outdated antique. Cooper might like it, and Clint too. It couldn't blow up and, of all the things in his lab, the little gyroscopic drone was probably the safest thing he had for a kid to tinker with.

Tony dropped the old mechanics onto his three dimensional bench top and scanned it through JARVIS. He found his old blueprints, downloaded them to a pad, and took it with a bowl of spare parts and a few tools, then tucked the bunch under his arm.

Clint had the time to take a look at what waited for him in his bedroom and either give his wife some peace and quiet, or jump into the water with her. By not finding the archer limping around the living room, Tony figured Clint had decided to soak his wounds and his spirits in his wife's arms. He never thought of himself as the romantic type. Acting like a matchmaker for a little alone time between the parents, surprised even Tony. Actively seeking out a little human to have a conversation with, was another tic in the column of uncommon-Stark-attributes. Clint wanted Cooper to tinker with something, and Tony said he'd see to it.

Cooper had cleaned himself up too, most likely at his mother's insistence. He was sitting on the couch, staring at the human-sized television screen to the right of the bar. The screen was black, the remote poised in the boy's hand though he didn't press any of the controls. Lila sat on the floor beside the bar with a few dozen pens, pencils, and highlighters. Pepper or Maria had printed out a few coloring pages for her to adorn. An exhausted Thor laid on the floor directly beside her, his head beneath a barstool. She'd braided some of his hair while he slept.

Bypassing the two on the floor, Tony strode over to Clint's son and dropped the materials on the table in front of him. Curious, Cooper sat up and looked down at it all.

"Hear you like playing with. . .things. . . this is just a - "

"It's a Hubsan X4 Pro Quadcopter!" Cooper exclaimed with enthusiasm, he dropped off the couch and picked up the spare parts, turning them over in hands remarkably like Tony might. One of the four arms to the system hung limply on its broken casing, internal wires were the only things tethering it to the central body. "Is this a 1080p video system?"

Slack-jawed, Tony took a moment to catch up with the conversation he didn't expect to be having. He shook off the surprise and reconsidered his words. "Uh, yeah. 3-axis Gimbal stabilization. I used the design and fractioned it by half, upgrading the design with a gyroscopic attachment for the camera balance."

Cooper nodded, noting the improvement Stark implemented. "Does it still run on GPS?"

"SBGP."

The boy looked at him.

"Stark Branded Global Positioning. It could fly underwater and find a goblin shark if you wanted it too. When it worked, I mean." He sat down on the sofa above Cooper, stacking his elbows on his knees, and soaked in a little of the boy's excitement. It was . . . pleasant.

"What happened to it?"

"Thor, after he moved in, thought it was possessed by Loki or something, and took a swing at it. Then again, I did fly it at him in the middle of the night and projected a holographic image of Loki himself. So maybe it was a little of my fault."

Cooper chuckled, cradling the object. He considered the mechanics a little, then returned it carefully to the table. "It's pretty cool. Too bad."

"Clint - your dad," Tony still struggled with that concept, "said you like to tinker with things. I've had this in a box for a while. I'm not doing anything with it. I've already improved the design in other renders, so if you want . . ." he let his voice trail. He felt awkward giving something to the boy, but he wasn't quite sure why.

"Really? I can fix it up?" He dared to ask. When Tony shrugged, his voice lit up. "Do you have a mini Philips, a rubber band, and an L-bracket?"

Stark pointed out the added items he'd brought along. Though a rubber band wasn't among them, it was easy enough to find one. A rubber band could be a useful thing when stripped screws were involved. Clint's house probably didn't have a lot of the toys that Stark's lab did. Cooper knew the simple ways to get things done. That was just fine, it meant he could be innovative.

Cooper sorted through the available tools, his little mind already twirling as fast as the helicopter rotors soon would. Before Tony got up to leave him to it, he lifted the digital pad and fired it up. He handed that to the boy also.

"Here are the plans I drew up when I made it. If you get stuck, you can take a look."

Cooper considered them for a minute, but eventually set them aside. "Nah, I think I'm OK."

Tony smiled. He stood again and headed for the bar. Clint might get on him about his language in front of the kids, but he had yet to curb his drinking. And after all they'd just been through, he figured a victory scotch was well deserved. "A boy that shirks directions. I think we're going to be friends."

Cooper shrugged and pulled the pieces of the drone into his lap. He considered the parts, picked up the screwdriver, and started working on the casing. "I don't read so good. I don't like it."

"You're a little basketful of surprises, kid. Aren't you like, what, in second grade? Don't they read in that grade?"

Cooper grinned, finding the humor Tony had in his voice. "No, I'm in fifth grade."

Tony poured himself an amber drink in a squat glass. He grinned. "Fine, fifth."

"My teacher says I'm dyslepic. I don't like reading. Everything just gets jumbled. Dad got me some books for my birthday and they're ok. I read them when he's home." He picked up an L-wrench and worked the gyroscope off the camera housing. He didn't watch Tony's reaction.

Stark's glass hovered between his lips and the bar top. He set it back down without drinking. He knew what the boy meant to say; dyslexic. Clint's child was dyslexic. The family seemed so perfect on the outside. Sure Clint was an Avenger, his wife was a retired ER doctor, and his little girl somehow ran Thor himself into a nap. They were two boys, two girls, baby on the way, house on a farm, white picket fence, broken down truck, barn-owning, chicken-feeding bluegrass Americans. They were perfect. Now they weren't.

The revelation made him scramble for something to say. He liked to fix things. It made his life go round, knowing that his hands, and enough time, could solve all of the world's problems. Though it took a little while to form something, he finally said, "Well, you know, if you ask, JARVIS will just read them out to you."

Cooper looked up at him.

Stark swallowed, trying to decide if what he just said was actually possible. He shook off the temporary worry, and circled the end of the bar. Cooper lifted the pad and handed it to him. Tony scrolled through the information, uploaded it back into the Stark mainframe, and handed it back. He extracted his phone, brought up the integrated system and wrote a few new lines of code into it. His left thumb lifted.

"Done. Just ask, he'll read it. Problem solved." He retreated back to the bar, picked up his glass, and headed down the hallway toward the first level lab. There wasn't necessarily anything for him to do there, but he could find something.

Steve appeared from the elevator with a towel over his shoulders and a face full of water. Tony didn't know if it was water or sweat, and he decided not to ask.

"Clint's kid is dyslexic," he blurted out. Tony didn't know exactly why he said it.

Steve blinked and shook his head a little, reeling from the information lashed out at him. "Um, ok? Should we call someone about that?"

Tony's eyes narrowed. "Your 1940's is showing. Stop it."

Steve lifted his hands and let them drop. "You filled my 'current times' with Angry Birds, Google, and how to use that overly-complicated coffee pot you decided to buy."

"Don't blame your poor education on me!"

Steve lifted his index finger, extracted his notebook from a back pocket, flipped open to five or six ripped out pages and displayed them for Tony to see. Then, wordlessly, he flipped past a few empty pages before reaching one written on in Stark's handwriting. Sure enough, it was a list of Steve's needed exposures in order to be considered a modern man. The three Steve mentioned were at the top of the list, followed by Candy Crush, Steve Jobs, the Daily Show, and Metallica.

Tony took the notebook and slapped it down on one of the stairs behind him. "It means he can't read, not like normal people can. The words turn backwards, or upside down, or jump lines, or whatever the brain decides to do."

"That's really a thing?" Steve looked down the hallway to where the kids sat.

"Yeah, and you can't fix it. They do know what to do about it. They just put these kids in little boxes of extended exam times, or special classes and things and just tell them to get over it."

Steve's eyebrow lifted at the passion in Stark's voice. "What got you all riled up over this?"

Tony opened his mouth, but no words came out. Figuring he'd have better luck commiserating with Banner, he departed for the lab like he originally planned. "You know what? I think the super serum shrank your brain cells to accommodate your muscles, test-tube boy."

"Ouch. I think my skin is burning from that," Steve said to the retreating back. He retrieved his notebook and went out into the main room, noting Thor almost instantly.

Lila looked up at him. She'd painted her nails in yellow and pink highlighters, and had applied a generous amount of freckles to Thor's cheeks while he slept. Steve stifled a guffaw behind his hand. The little girl held up her coloring page. It was a female rendering of Iron Man, suit and all. She'd highlighted the hero in blue with accents of red.

Taped to the bottom of the bar were other coloring pages. They were all Avengers, as women, and she'd taken special care to give them their own color theme. Without missing a beat, she grabbed one out of her uncolored stack and handed it up to him with a bundle of colors. Steve looked down at the female Captain America. In some ways, it reminded him of Peggy.

"Wanna color with me?" Lila asked.

With an offer like that, Steve was powerless to refuse.

* * *

Lila is seriously adorable. And I just imagine Clint coming home one day and cooper racing up to him and saying "Dad! I disassembled an engine gasket and refitted with a ceramic ring to improve fuel efficiency!" and Clint just going...I thought i left Tony at the Tower. LOL. I'm not sure why i made his son dyslexic. Perhaps it is because my older sister, a masters student, college professor, and biology lab head, is and I see the struggle she goes through. despite being so incredibly intelligent she still has that one, extra, thing to overcome.

Next time: time alone between lovers, and the reality of a week long captivity on a pregnant woman.

so for these reviews, why not play a game? Tell me, how/why did you chose the pen name you have, and who your favorite Avenger is!

Me: Ezra is my favorite character from magnificent seven, and Cross stands for my christian faith. Of course, my favorite character is Hawkeye:)


	14. Chapter 13

**It was fantastic hearing about everyone's pennames! Little changes are in progress with this chapter as my beloved JRbarton points out my little mistakes. Lol. Always happens when I decide to change things after ICanHear sends my edited pieces back!**

 **Thank you To::**

Pinkypop22, brandibuckeye, Liliththestormgoddess, Wonderwomanbatmanfan, 8839, penguincrazy, PenguinApocalypse, .ROX, amy. .9, KatHarvey, Aini NuFire, 5mairer, WestonFollower, TortoisetheStoryteller, Batghost, trouble5

SarahJaneDoctor: I love doctor who!

BookLuv: Whoo! Dyslexia friends

tlyxor1: how amazing it is that you, being blind, are up and fanfic-ing it up! That's fantastic! and much the same as you, Clint fascinates me for that same reason.

ELOSHAZZY: i bet you are one great ma!

Shannon K: I LOVE that you are a special ed teacher! my sister had a tutor most of her young life and though reading, especially technical reading where words literally look like they've been made up by watching letters float around in alphabet soup, is still a struggle for her. Unfortunately, Tony doesn't know that:) but i don't mind your soap box at all! Get on it and shout:)!

Niom Lamboise: I wasn't quite sure where this was all going to end up, but now that I just finished it, i think you will like it.

discordchick: i think that is awesome for a penname! had no idea! i was a little xena too when i was younger. LOL.

IWriteSinsOrTragedies bahahahahaha! I LOVEd that!

JRBarton :returns kiss. feel better!

Khaito: Love the name! I am so sorry to hear you lost a pet to the food outbreak. I did as well. Her name was Suki, an adorable, blind, tortoise shell who belonged to my mother. she was only a couple months old. such a terrible thing to happen.

* * *

 **Avenge Me**

Chapter 13

Once out of Tony's eyesight, Clint Barton had a little less guilt about pressing a hand against his back and limping toward his bedroom door. The layers of new flesh felt odd, like plastic, against the rest of him. He wasn't sure what his internal organs felt about the patch job. If he suddenly sprung a leak, spilling bowel contents beneath the soft shell layers of fresh muscle and skin, there wasn't much he could do about it. Dr. Cho appeared hopeful, so that was something.

The room door popped open in front of him and he dragged himself inside. Every step closer to his bathroom became a battle of will power. The minute his eyes caught sight of the bed, he almost diverted all plans and tumbled right into its covers. The light in the bathroom brought him to a pause. He wondered for a moment whether Tony had sneaked in, setting the place up for him in some strange show of camaraderie. He'd done it before, though not very often.

A head covered in loose, dark hair appeared around the corner of the doorway. He blinked against the backlight behind the face to find that his wife was standing there, staring at him. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh Clint, it's just you!" She exclaimed, stepping into the light a little more. She had a towel tucked up beneath her armpits and it bulged open over her belly. The cotton fabric rectangle was short, made for a man more than a woman. It ended a little below her hips.

Clint indicated the bathroom with a small gesture. "Can I guess? Stark suggested you put your feet up?"

She smiled. "Soak my feet, actually, I think is what he said. Did he say you needed one too?"

"I think we've been set up." Clint eyed the bed again in consideration. He continued into the room, headed to the foot of his bed and sat down. The two old, weathered boots were tied on with double knots which deserved a great deal of attention in order to get off. On a mission back when his SHIELD career first started, the left one had gotten lost. Since that time he determined to let it never happen again. He looked down at the laces and wondered whether or not he had enough strength to pull them off.

"You coming in?" Laura invited from the doorway. He didn't hear the water running. She must have filled the tub for herself. An invitation to "preserve water" as his wife called it was no opportunity to let slide by. They didn't often have these moments afforded to them. The ones where they could settle down into a bath together like they had years ago before the kids came along.

"I'm beat," he admitted. It wasn't a refusal, but more of a warning of what he was, and was not capable of.

"Clint, you're my husband and if I wanted to do that, after I just spent a week in a dungeon, and eight months pregnant too, then you got another thing coming," she didn't raise her voice, or tease him. She sounded much the same as he did. Tired, emotionless, checked out.

Clint nodded a little. He leaned down and worked his boot laces, leaving them in a trip-worthy pile at the end of the bed. A disgruntled look usually waited him from Laura's face when he did that, but today she let it go. Crossing the room to her, he shed the remainder of his clothes. The socks, thick in sweat, melted snow, and somehow blood found themselves inside out beside a chair. His pants came free, and balled up along the wall. The left pant leg inverted while the right just crinkled up like a slinky. Laura moved away from the door. She dropped the towel onto the toilet tank and placed her hand into the water, scattered the bubbles she'd formed with copious donations from his shampoo bottle.

"Need a hand?" Clint asked.

"Nope," she replied, using his soap rack as a handhold to swing her leg up and over the side of the tub. Her stomach extending over her feet made placement a precarious business but practice, and experience, had her settled against one of the jets. There were three concavities pressed into the porcelain, which was more like a spa then an ordinary tub. Her back slide down the silk-like stone, lettering her naked body sink beneath the bubbles until nothing remained to see but her head and neck.

"I should have asked if you needed help," she said, looking over at him.

Clint had made it to the wash basin and hesitated in front of his mirror. He was wearing the University of Iowa boxers she'd bought him as a joke last Christmas. The little yellow outlines of the mascot decorated the fabric with the word "Hawkeyes" hovering between them. His fingers pulled beneath his eyes, dislodging something he found there. He yawned, letting his forehead press against the slowly condensing mirror.

"Clint?"

He almost forgot he wasn't alone. Clint hooked his fingers into the waistband of his boxers and shed them beside the wash basin, kicking them out of the walkway with his foot. He didn't say much, just slipped into the water with her. The three concavities in the porcelain made it so they faced each other, rather than allowed them to sit side by side. He rested his head on the rim of it, let the eyelids fall, and released a sigh.

"What happened to your knee?" Laura asked. Beneath the water, her hand found him, gentle caressing the joint.

"Thor," Clint answered, imagining the word to be understanding enough. He winced and she stopped.

"Silly thing for him to do," she said.

"He apologized."

"Your back doesn't look so good."

"Trust me, it feels worse."

The water shifted around him, sending ripples against his neck, high enough to touch the stubble along his chin. He remembered he had to shave. The girls in his life objected to kisses laced in prickles. He opened his eyes and watched Laura pick up the bottle of his shampoo. He wasn't sure what was written on the bottle. It didn't really matter. A shopping trip with Banner one day found him purchasing a few essentials and he simply picked up whatever the doctor had.

Laura upended the bottle, dropping a dollop into her hand. The water rippled as she shifted closer to him, spinning awkwardly in the strangely shaped tub. Clint watched, too exhausted to do much else, as she came at him.

"Dunk down," she said.

He obeyed, disappearing beneath the water for a moment to let the water soak into his hair. It felt good to stay under, letting the fluid just swirl all over him, washing away the horrible week he'd endured. When he decided to reemerge, she stood ready with the soap and went after the grime in his hair as if he was just one other child she'd raised from birth. Her fingers felt good across his skull, scrubbing the days away. He knew that while being on the receiving end was perfectly glorious, he'd eventually have to find the energy to repeat the favor.

Before he'd ever considered being a married man, if someone told him he'd think it was normal to wash his wife's hair, he would have called the person a liar. Even saying it, admitting to it out loud, sounded strange and almost wrong. But Clint didn't care. Her hair was always more complicated than his. She liked certain shampoos, added a conditioner afterward and she'd stack the locks up at the top of her head for almost five minutes to let the conditioner set. Sometimes she'd do it twice, but usually that was after one of their babies had decorated her in something particularly gruesome. Lila in particular was a colicky baby. Clint couldn't remember how many times he'd changed his shirt in a day from his little girl emptying a belly full of curdled milk all over him. There was something to be said about the smell of baby vomit, it was unlike any other scent in the world.

He dunked down again, letting the soap in his hair add to the opacity in the water. They'd need to shower off after, unless they wanted to stay slightly soapy forever.

"There's dirt under your chin."

"Blood probably," Clint said, pulling up some water in a cup of his hand and rubbing the spot. He tried to sit up a little and made a grab for the shampoo bottle.

"Don't bother," Laura said. She turned her body around, letting her back face him. She managed to squeeze around the outward curve of the tub until they were sitting together, back to chest. Clint brought his arm up, at first to just give her space, but then he draped it around her waist and let his hand press over her belly. He imagined feeling a foot extending beneath his palm, shoving him away, but there was nothing. Nathaniel had been an easy goer, unlike Cooper who acted like every day was another chance to practice his future MMA skills.

"I'm not good enough to wash you're hair?" Clint asked.

"I think, later, I'll borrow some shampoo from Miss Potts. Yours smells like feet."

His chest rumbled a little with his laugh, closing his eyes again and letting his head fall back.

"Is this hurting you?" she asked.

"I wouldn't care if it did," he admitted.

"We shouldn't stay away too long. Thor looked a little spent. We should let them have something special tonight. Maybe we'll—" Laura paused when she felt his breathing change. Hand resting on her belly, his head drifting slightly to the left, Clint had fallen fast asleep. She thought about that for a while and consider if she wanted to wake him up again. He would have preferred that, she knew.

These last few days had been so painful for them both. Being apart never drove a wedge between them. Clint had his world, she supported that wholeheartedly and in return she had her career, and he loved that about her. Juggling the kids was difficult for them at first. Clint's job could steal him away on a moment's notice and, though it became easier when she began to work at home, she couldn't stay cooped up forever. Her parents stepped in and gave them some assistance here and there. They never approved of her choice in a husband, which occasionally caused tension between them. For Clint it was just as well. He had enough trouble trying to protect his immediate family to consider extending that to in laws.

Something on the edge of his sink caught her eye. Angling her body in a sort of pretzel, Laura managed to twist just enough, and extend her fingers to just the right angle, and snatch the object. It was Clint's razor, and all things being equal, it was hers now too.

There existed a particular freedom to shaving ones legs after the hair had grown long enough to matt down. Like removing a second skin, emerging from a winter hibernation, or simply helping one to feel pretty and feminine again. Laura at one time invested in routine wax appointments to manage her particular overstimulated growth. Over time, and after their fifth year married, she became decidedly less fastidious. Clint's razor occasionally found its way into her hand when her own decided to go AWOL. He'd stopped complaining about it after he moved into the Tower on a semi-permanent basis and supplied a back-up for himself there.

She attempted to find his soap, despite that thus far her search proved unsuccessful. Men were far less predictable in certain bathroom habits than their female counterparts and he couldn't be considered an exception to that rule. Finding none, she returned to his shampoo bottle. It really did smell terrible and in some ways she planned to expel as much of the stuff as possible, if only to aid her excuse in buying him a new brand.

 _Desperate times, desperate measures,_ Laura said to herself, cocking one leg up on the ledge across from her. Just how much she could accomplish with the four and a half-pound bowling ball rolling inside of her, she couldn't say. But half a leg was better than nothing at all. At the very least, her underarm weeds were getting wacked.

As she worked to unearth her femininity, a smile danced along her lips at the memory of the last encounter between Clint and her parents. Thanksgiving didn't go that well for many families, and their own was no exclusion. Clint provided the turkey. Lila had named it Admiral Bart for the past year they'd owned him. They picked out an entire nest of them in anticipation of the holiday, and still owned the other three, though they'd ceased to be cooped up and lived off the land now. Lila was too attached to them to contemplate their eventual demise. Admiral Bart, though, had chased the little girl on more occasions then anyone could count. She held little remorse for his loss.

The fact that they had raised, slaughtered, plucked, stuffed, and attempted to serve her parents the family meal was akin to introducing Clint Barton as Hannibal Lecter himself. Her parents were appalled. Cooper thought it was rather funny to watch the peculiar color they turned. The turkey tasted good, whether they decided to eat any of it or not. Around dinner time, the plates were set, the bird adorning the center of the family table and they had just begun to add the side dishes when Natasha Romanov arrived. Clint's long time partner brought along desert, a store bought pecan pie as the one she attempted to create from scratch ended up as a bowl of pecan pie soup instead. At the introduction of a second famous assassin, a female no less, one who, in fact, knew Barton a great deal longer than Laura herself had, her parents were very near the point of leaving entirely. They stayed for the sake of not upsetting the grandkids. And, after all, Laura thought they shouldn't have been surprised. Clint didn't have a best man at his wedding. He had Natasha, and that was just fine.

The water began to cool around them. The peaks of soap towers deflated, leaving only the cloudy water behind. She wasn't sure just how much time had passed.

"Mm," Clint groaned, shifting beneath her. She leaned away from him and spun around to let him find his own way awake again.

His confused eyes blinked open at her. "Laura?" he asked.

"For a minute I thought you'd be asleep the rest of the night," she replied.

He straightened. One hand cruised upward out of the water and rubbed his face.

"I fell asleep?"

"For a little while. The water's getting cold. Do you want me to warm it up again? Or should we shower off?"

He groaned a second time. Decisions were too much to ask when he felt this exhausted. Then again, they weren't the only ones in the Tower. Surely the others could only tolerate so much free babysitting before a picket line started.

"Kid's gotta eat," he said, almost dejectedly.

"Us too. I don't know about you, Mr. Hawkeye, but this lady with a baby is hungry."

Clint noticed his razor. "That your way of telling me I can't keep the beard?"

"Nope, that is my way of shedding my cavewoman roots for you. I couldn't reach the backs, though."

He snorted, a short jerking noise. She was something else all right.

Laura looked around her for a good hand hold and decided it was high time to get moving again. This little break Tony Stark gave them was wholly enjoyed. She'd never felt as refreshed after an ordeal as trying as the one she'd endured. Simply laying against his chest became the most welcome thing she could have imagined for herself. Clint made her feel safe. It was another thing she loved about him, if she had the inclination to keep a list.

"Hang on, I'll help you." Clint pushed himself up with his hands, and stood, letting the soapy water drip off of him. He pulled up the plug on the drain to let the water rush out. Helping a pregnant woman stand in a tub could be a precarious effort, but Clint had the good fortune of experience with much smaller bathroom spaces. This held little real skill in the scheme of things.

He adjusted the water from the shower head to something reasonably warm and pulled the shower curtain closed around them. A bar of fresh ivory soap stuck out on a ledge above his head and Clint fished it down for them. He still owed her for the free shampoo, so naturally he let her wash up first.

"I knew you had a bar hiding someplace, I was just too short to see it. I want you to put some ice on your back when we get out. And let me know if you start urinating blood. You were right about that gunshot being close to your kidney. If you start to feel numb anywhere, pins and needles, anything like that you have to tell me," Laura went on in her authoritative way. The speech held a similar tone that she might have used for her children.

"Yes, ma'am." Clint told her dutifully, helping the soap bubbles to travel down her back. He didn't intend to call her ma'am, it simply slipped out without him thinking about it. A few women he knew, Pepper and Hill included, hated the term with an overwhelming feminist passion. He'd nearly found himself banished from the living room for daring to refer to Pepper by the term. Laura had laughed when he told her. She even admitted that at one time it bothered her too. Long ago, his wife gave up on stopping him, though. She knew the background he had in life. A horrible home at first, a mother and father killed one dark night when his father drove drunk. The boys' home followed, then a series of fosters that never stuck. Circus, delinquency, army, and then SHIELD. Clint had dealt with an overwhelming authority all his life. If the biggest fault he left that life with was calling women "ma'am" then Laura could handle it without flustering her feathers.

"What do you want to eat?"

He shrugged, massaging her shoulders clean. "Be honest, I'm not hungry. Not sure when I was last hungry. Must have been a few days."

She nodded, unconcerned. Stress did that too him. She turned to chocolate and BBQ potato chips when times got hard. Clint ate nothing.

"I think pizza will be on the menu. Hand tossed, hot, delivered right to my couch, with peperoni and olives. I might even go crazy and add onions to that."

He snickered, letting his head fall into the nape of her neck. "You get whatever you want. But if I kiss Nathaniel for the first time and taste anchovies, you're to blame."

Her laugh matched his. Before switching positions, Clint decided to finish the barbering job on the back of her legs that Laura had started herself. If the woman sacrificed her body to carry his baby, the least he could do was help along her personal habits. That meant rubbing her feet when they swelled up at night, driving to the QT convenience store for FishFood ice cream at three in the morning, and cleaning the toilet for her when her morning sickness hit its peak. There wasn't any particular sexual connotation to his act, despite the fact that pregnant or not, he loved the sight of her bare body beside his. Tony might be dissapointed.

After a time, the two switched positions. Laura got a good look at his bruises. They were harsh and red in the center, depressed where the skin had torn. A purple bull's eye surrounded them both.

"Actually, when we get out, I'm going to put some wraps on these," she said.

"Whatever you want."

"Then maybe we'll get crazy and do some skydiving with Lila."

Clint was leaning on the side of the shower, lazily letting the water cascaded from the crown of his head and down the length of him. "Yuh-huh," he agreed.

Laura thought about laughing at him, but her husband probably wouldn't understand the joke. He needed some sleep. He wouldn't let himself have any, either, until they were with the kids again.

"Finish up," she said to his back, finding the seam for the shower curtain so she might pull it open. "I'm going to find you some clothes."

"I'll be right there," he said, trying to be more vigorous in getting the soap off. "I brought you some things from home. They're in the duffle bag, by my dresser."

Laura managed to step out, picked up her towel again, and padded toward his bedroom, leaving small, watery footprints along the way. The bag sat on the floor where he said and she picked it up to set it on the bed. Overturning the contents, she sorted through what he'd chosen for her. There were two shirts, one from her pre-pregnancy days that most certainly wouldn't do and the other while not a favorite, would suffice. She was happy he'd chosen a pair of her old scrub pants. She'd kept half a dozen of them, for those few times she did go in and work hands on at the local clinic in town. She often wore the pants around the house out of convenience and comfort. Clint called them her socially acceptable pajamas. He had found two pairs of her underwear. One she'd bought, and almost never wore. The style had somehow shifted between that one and the stack of other's she'd owned into something akin to a thong. She wasn't quite sure how it happened. They'd all been purchased the same day, were the same brand and size, but that was the reality of women's underclothes. They occasionally had a mind of their own. She searched the empty bag again, lifted it up and rooted around on the bed, but discovered rather quickly one item in particular had not been brought for her.

Clint stood in the doorway with the last remaining towel tied around his waist. The dark bags that started under his eyes two days before were nearly the color of Cooper's injury now.

Laura looked up at him. "Thank you for taking the time to pick these up for me."

The right side of his mouth turned up a little. "After we found Lila I realized I had to grab some things for her to come her in. After that I just walked around and threw a bunch of things into a bag. The house is in shambles."

She nodded, attempting to soften the blow she had waiting for him. "I know. I watched them do it. Nick tried to convince them the thing, the toolbox, wasn't there, but they didn't believe him. I think we lost all our good china too. But, Hawkeye dear, you did happen to miss one little thing."

He perked up a little.

Laura indicated her chest with both hands. "These, especially pregnant mommy ones, don't exactly hold themselves up."

Clint looked a little mortified. His face became slightly grey and he cast a wide gaze over the bed covers. "I didn't get any bras? Aw, hon, I wasn't—"

She dismissed him with a hand, "It's really not a big deal. I have the one I was wearing before. I'm just not putting that thing back on until it gets bleached or something." She strode over to him, clutching her remaining clothes to her chest. Her kiss landed on the bottom of his smooth chin. "You did good. And you even lost the scraggly beard."

Still kicking himself, Clint sighed. "Yeah, better now than tomorrow. I'm sleeping in."

"Your things are on the bed. I'll be out in a sec. Decide what movie you're willing to watch with the kids. I'll talk to Mr. Stark about getting some food here. Then it is you, me, and one nice, long, good night sleep."

"Have I ever told you I love your sweet nothings?" Clint asked, retrieving the items she'd placed out for him. Her laugh followed her back into the bathroom.

* * *

so, i know this chapter was a little bit slower, but really i think it is my favorite one. i just love this realism between them.

Next time: Pizza, movie, and Hawkeye's future with, or without, the team

ANNOUNCEMENT! for those of you following me on facebook, it is true. i've written the epilogue for this book at last! so technically, its done. and i will try to post as I have time. :)


	15. Chapter 14

Well here she is! Apologies for the wait!

 **Thank you To::**

WestonFollower: thank you!

ShadowPhoenix22: I loved all of this. ALL OF IT. thank you so much:)

Aini NuFire: There is only ONE MORE chapter!

TortoisetheStoryteller: LOL, tried to imagine myself in that situation and being like...no.

PilotDante: :D

trouble5: Aw, thanks!

8839 : so sad it's almost over!

khaitosfren : thank you!

penguincrazy: wait no more!

5mairer: thank you!

Niom Lamboise: i'm excited for what's coming here and what you will think:)

amy. .9 :I almost died when i wrote that line. My ma says it all the time.

Alex C : thank you!

brandibuckeye: i just love little moments of normalcy

Wonderwomanbatmanfan: wait no more! I really hope you like it!

discordchick I THINK i address your question in this chapter...

BookLuv : uh oh...someone caught on to me...

* * *

 **Avenge Me**

Chapter 14

Clint Barton made his way into the main room before his wife finished getting into her new clothes. He scrubbed a hand through his still-wet hair and tried to force his eyes open. Few things kept him walking. A desire to hold his children again, a want to feel normal and return to the life he had before, all of it fueled his limping walk into the living room, surprised to find that the movie he'd considered watching was already in full swing.

Apparently Pepper had gone out at some point and returned with four stacks of pizza boxes. Hill came through the doorway next carrying a bags full of drinks, from lemonade to Gatorade and soda. He walked up beside her and attempted to grab a handful of the parcels out of her grasp, but Hill danced away from him.

"Oh, no you don't! No heavy lifting for you!" she boldly declared.

Cooper noticed the movement and bounded away from the excitement of pizza to intercept his dad. "Look!" he declared in transit, displaying the rebuilt gyrocopter. "Look what Mr. Stark let me make! I'm going to fix up the remote and get it flying dad, but it's already done! Isn't it cool?"

Reeling to catch up, Clint stopped I front of him and took the offering to inspect it. He vaguely recognized what the machine had once been, mainly because what he'd seen Thor do to it. A smile crossed his lips and Clint threaded his hand through Cooper's hair. It was strange to him how tall Cooper had gotten. The child grew like the Hulk. Soon enough he'd be as tall as his father. Cooper actually wanted to be taller, and Clint wasn't sure how'd he feel about that.

"Hey, check it out! You did a great job cleaning that up!" Clint applauded. He hooked his arm over Cooper's shoulders and they went into the common room together. He found a place on the couch and plopped down. Out of nowhere a bee-lining little girl in braided pig tails came flying forward and flung herself at him. Clint exhaled with an "oof" at the collision.

"Dad! I've been having a bunch of fun, and me and Thor were running and I ran, and he was chasing me. And I colored my nails!" She held up her ten little fingers, all in varying states of highlighter heaven. "And I was drawing with Uncle Steve."

Clint nodded at all over her declarations. His eyes directed toward the Captain who stood twisting a cap off the carton of lemonade. "Really? You guys did all of that, _Uncle Steve_?"

Rogers shrugged one shoulder a little sheepishly. "Sounds strange being called Mr. Rogers, you know. She sort of came up with it."

"Uncle Thor, I rather admire this title," Thor stated. He turned with a plate laden in three pizza varieties stacked on his plate. Clint nearly exploded in laughter at the sight of him. Sharpie freckles, a nose glazed in red, and little rising suns, their rays extending in straight lines from his eyebrows to his hairline, all decorated his face like a child's painting.

Clint narrowed his eyes in his daughter's direction. "Lila Aliana Smith-Barton. What have I told you about drawing on faces?"

The child paled. She'd been caught. Clint rarely used her full name and only in the most dire circumstances. Cooper sent her a glance, clearly reading "I told you so".

Steve instantly crumbled before the apology could ever muster from her lips. "Uh, don't blame her as much, Clint. I saw it and I . . ." he glanced at Thor, and Hill, and Pepper who had taken a sudden interest in his every word. "I helped."

Hill snorted. She may have intended to laugh, but the sound which came out of her was most certainly a short, gurgling snort. The former agent folded over a little, grabbing for a handful of napkins to hide the rum and coke now escaping her nostrils. Directly beside her, Pepper's hand flew up to her mouth where she could chew on the first two knuckles and restrain all the pent-up joviality desperate to burst through.

Clint was not about to let it go that easy. "You helped."

Red-faced, Steve nodded.

"You helped my girl draw on Thor's face, and braid his hair, and colored with her?"

Steve's Adam's apple bobbed. Well, if it was out, it was all coming out. "Yeah. I did."

Clint shook his head a little in disbelief and stacked his bare feet on the coffee table. "Uncle Steve it is."

The day dragged into night with the Avengers ringed around the widescreen television. It took half an hour of pizza eating, soda drinking merriment to finally decide on something proper to watch as a pseudofamily gathering. Tony had the biggest say in the matter but it was no surprise when Big Hero 6 won out. Cooper and Stark's creative halves were set on fire. Thor was overly pleased with the marshmallow shaped robot, and the normal viewers enjoyed watching the excitement of the others. Half way through, Lila and Cooper's bed times came around. No one ordered them away. This was family times and here the realms of cultural norms were suspended.

Clint fell asleep within the first five minutes. He sat where he had when it all started, with Cooper under one arm and Lila under the other. They happily munched away at a slice of pizza each, downed glasses of lemonade, and a short time later the communal bowls of popcorn emerged for everyone to partake. Neither wanted to disturb the exhausted father. Not even his wife.

By the time the ending credits rolled, the two children had joined his father in dream land. Hill had driven back home for the evening, Tony headed to bed with Pepper, and both Thor and Steve departed to clean up. Laura still sat up beside Bruce, watching the trio sleep.

"Want a hand moving them?" Bruce asked.

"Move them? No. They look comfortable enough," Laura replied. Clint had fallen over when she decided to sit on the couch opposite of them. Lila was curled up, like a stuffed bear, against his chest and Cooper's head rested against his, the rest of him stretched out in the opposite direction. "Clint's going to be sore in the morning."

"Everything worked out, at least."

"Yes, thank God," she whispered. "I was so worried about him. I mean, I knew we'd be all right. Cooper and I. I'm not sure how I knew. Clint worried me the most. He can be so focused." He eyes closed, as if reliving something she didn't want Bruce to see in her eyes. Her head turned downward a little away from him. "We're all ok, though."

Bruce, a master at hiding his own secrets, sensed at once the pain within her. "He never said how he ended up shot. A few times, now that I think about it. It was in front of you, wasn't it?"

She turned sharply to him again.

"I'm sorry. It's just a thing I do. Observation is sort of my forte here. You came back to the plane with blood on your face. It was fresh. Not from you. And the reaction you just had," he shrugged as if it was the only thing that made sense to him.

"Clint wasn't lying. You're good."

Bruce could see the comment served to deflect the conversation. He decided not to push the topic. "I never knew he talked about us."

She lit up in smiles. "He tries not to take his work home with him. It doesn't always work, and sometimes it's because I pressure him. He likes you, can't understand half the things that you say, but he likes how laid back you are."

This amounted a surprise for Bruce. Clint was silent in his ways, often excluding himself from the group and keeping to himself. Bruce always thought that maybe due to his past. After SHIELD fell, Clint firmly renounced his trust in any organizations from that day out. In a small way that included the Avengers too. He'd trusted the group home he'd been placed in as a child, and the first bad foster family shattered that in him. He trusted in the circus that made him into Hawkeye only to discover they were liars and thieves. He'd trusted the army, before they left him to die on a mission, putting him on SHIELD's radar.

"I didn't think he had much by way of opinions on us as people. I guess I just never really saw him like that. Not that this," Bruce gestured to the trio of sleeping bodies, "was anything I ever envisioned."

"A lot of people see him like that," Laura said, sadness dropping her voice a little. "I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the front he puts on to deal with it all. Not many people get to see who he is. What he is. How important he is, until it's too late and he's gone."

The conversation had taken another jarring turn, and Bruce found himself struggling to catch up. Gone? Did Laura possibly allude to Clint leaving the team? Sure the guy had a wife, almost three kids, a house recently ransacked that still needed to be set to right . . . the more Bruce thought of it, the more confused he became. Hawkeye not being on the Avengers somehow struck him as just plain wrong. Bruce didn't mind his wit, the sharp comments after missions or the occasional show-off piloting he did, regardless that Bruce _did_ complain about it. _Constantly_. Clint couldn't have taken that seriously. Bruce never remembered the missions where he went green, but he did know Clint was usually a key part of them. He saw things before the others could, called out strategy, spied his way into places, and never said he couldn't do something. He'd just figure something out.

"I think I threw off your groove," Laura said, drawing Bruce away from his private thoughts.

He tried to right himself and escape the fears filling him. "Sorry, I guess I just never really thought of him not being here. It just hit me all at once."

"I support him. I love what he does here. Natasha looks out for him, but some of the things he comes home with, I just—" her voice trailed off and she drew in a deepsigh. "The team needs him. It scares me how much they do, you do, but I know Clint. He'd push himself off a cliff, throw himself in front of a train if just to save one kid." She laughed a little. "He'd probably do it to save someone he didn't like too."

"You support him, and you don't want to lose him," Bruce interjected.

She looked back at him. "Something like that."

"Life's hard as a single mother. Three kids, I couldn't imagine that on anyone."

"I could, and have. That's what scares me. I love him, but I have to share him. It's not easy." Laura slowly got to her feet, and Bruce stood up beside her. "I'm going to go and enjoy a nice, long sleep in a comfy bed, in a giant mound of pillows and God help whoever wakes me before noon."

"Sounds like a fine plan, Mrs. Barton," Bruce said.

"Oh, Laura, please. People call me misses and it makes me feel old."

Bruce repeated himself with the correction and watched as Clint's wife made her way for the hallway. He looked back at the kids and Hawkeye. Before he left, Thor had gone off and grabbed the spare blankets from his room to arrange over the sleeping trio. One of them made it to the floor already after Cooper had kicked it off. Bruce reached down, retrieved it, and tucked the boy back in.

Earlier Tony went crashing into the lab, his mind in a reeling tizzy over the discovery that Clint Barton's son was dyslexic. Bruce merely shrugged it off. He had been surprised, but not overly affected. Dyslexia was a common, well documented disorder in this day and age. There were entire departments in universities devoted to it, students often weren't restricted from receiving just as efficient an education as any other. Attempting to express this same notion to Tony did not go over very well. Tony compared Bruce to Steve, never a good sign, and threw himself into fabricating a mobile stealth protocol. Bruce considered assisting him, despite having no notion what he worked on, though Tony thought his contribution was better made by figuring out a way for his JARVIS mainframe to exist on a sole, portable drive instillation that might work handheld with a cell phone. Bruce pointed out that Tony already had such a device, i.e. his cell phone, to which Stark replied he wanted a different one. A better, user-friendly version that worked on a stealth grid completely separate from Avengers' Tower.

"I want a "My Girl Friday" to my butler JARVIS," Stark said, but never explained why. He could be like that.

It took Bruce about an hour to create the program and, by morning, the prototype would be ready to use. Tony thought it should have taken longer. He forgot to take into account Bruce's keen abilities.

Bruce double checked the three, taking a step back to better look down on them all. Clint's face was buried beneath the back of Lila's head. The girl's knees were pulled up into a tight ball and her mouth hung wide open. Cooper twitched, settled, twitched again. Despite all they had been through, they slept like the dead.

Not wanting to risk rousing them, Bruce moved away toward his room. Eventually Thor and Steve would make their way back upstairs despite the fact that neither of them slept more than a few hours a night. Clint might be awake by then and decide to move the kids. Right now, Laura had the best plan. It was better off to let the sleeping kids stay put.

:(:):(:):

Tony Stark heard the knock against the wall first. Something hit the drywall hard enough to rouse him from his sleep. He groaned, rolling over a little . Pepper shifted beside him and pulled her head off his arm. He sat up and listened for a little while. Hearing nothing further, he refolded the pillow under his head and dragged his blanket over his shoulder again.

A muffled cry brought him back to consciousness a second time. Beside him, Pepper stretched out her arm and laid her hand on his bicep.

"Tony?" she whispered.

He moaned.

"Tony, you hear—"

"Mmhm," Tony replied, "Yup. Heard him. Got it."

"You want me to check on him?"

"Nope." Tony sat up again and let the blanket fall down. He stuck his legs out on the other side of the bed and let his feet hit the floor. Another knock radiated through the wall adjoining Clint's room and theirs. Over time they'd gotten used to the sound. Nightmares. All the Avengers had them at one time or another. After the Chitauri attack, and more so after the fall of SHIELD and the Avengers closed ranks, they began to notice Clint's nightmares more. He used to stay at an apartment until Tony convinced him to move in. The archer shared the room adjacent to theirs out of convenience. He liked being closest to the exits. Occasionally Clint woke himself up and the nightmares would cease. Other times he didn't and Tony had gotten into the habit of going to check on him. Pepper patted him as he went by and slipped out of the front door.

Tony padded quietly in the hall and approached Clint's door sleepily. The palm of his right hand rubbed through his eyes, attempting to force some clarity into them. He yawned, and opened the door.

There was another thump of the headboard making contact as the bed's occupant shifted. Apparently Clint didn't plan to wake himself up.

"Hawk?" Tony said, approaching with caution. Clint didn't often sleep without some sort of weapon within reach of his hands. Sticking near the end of the bed, he reached out and grabbed Clint's ankle and shook it carefully through the bed covers. "Hawk, wake up for me. You're dreaming. Everything's fine."

The person stirred, lifted up and stared bleary eyed at him. "Mr. Stark?"

The voice didn't belong to Clint. In fact for a little while he had no idea who it was. The brown hair cascaded around her shoulders and she blinked at him.

"Oh my God, Mrs. Barton!" Tony exclaimed, flabbergasted. He backed away from the bed, waiting for at any moment for Clint to arrive from beneath the covers and roar about how he and his wife had been enjoying a solitary moment alone had Tony not interrupted them. But Clint did not appear. In fact, Laura seemed quite alone.

Laura tightened the bed sheet around her waist and sat staring at him. Her body betrayed her, shaking like a fluttering leaf as she hugged her knees.

Tony tried to see her face a little more clearly through the dark. "Mrs. Barton, are you all right?"

She didn't reply.

Tony searched around the wall for the light switch to Clint's desk lamp. The light set the place ablaze. She closed her eyes against it, but still moved little. Tony could see her face was rose red, swollen beneath her lids and long trails creased down her cheeks. She'd been crying in her sleep, most likely. Clint didn't tend to do that but all the other telltale signs were there.

"Hang on, let me go get—"

"He's sleeping," Laura piped up instantly to stop Tony from leaving. "On the couch still with the kids."

Tony made a noncommittal grunt to that and concerned himself with what he should do next. In his mind, one Barton might as well be like another. He should try the simple route first and treat her exactly the same.

He crossed the room and entered the bathroom. Laura watched as the light flicked on, the water began to run, and in short order Tony returned, turning the light out behind him. He approached the bed and sat down on the edge of it on her right. A glass of water found its way into her hand. He fished around in the side table and produced an alka seltzer. He had just about added it to the water but stopped.

"Pregnant," he said to himself and put the tablet back into the drawer. A box of tissues rested beside the tablets and he took it out to sit it next to her hand.

"You seem practiced," she told him.

"Yeah, well," he said nothing more.

A handful of tissues pulled free and she dabbed her eyes. Laura drank a mouthful of water, lathering in its refreshment through her fevered body. After a time of silence, she asked, "How did you know?"

Tony thought about his answer, but eventually sighed. "Headboard. Clint knocks it around too when he's stuck in his nightmares. I got used to hearing it. Sometimes it wakes me up and I'll listen for a while to see if he needs any help. Usually he doesn't."

The entire time they spoke Tony sat with his back facing her and his legs hanging over the side of the bed. He rubbed his feet on the floor and picked the dirt from beneath his nails. Anyone might tell he was uncomfortable sitting there with her.

"That's very sweet of you."

"He's happy about it I think. He never tells me to stop, so I just kept on." For the first time he looked over. "I know what kind of monsters keeps him up at night. Worries over what we do. Who we are. Things that could, and have, happened to him. The Hulk getting loose in the Tower one night. So, what is it that keeps you awake?"

For a long while Laura continued to stare at the man as if there was something about him that simply wasn't real. Perhaps at any moment this visage of Tony Stark might flitter away and just turn into any other ghost in the darkness. But he did not go, and his image didn't change.

"My kids being taken away from me. Losing our baby. The monsters in New York taking my husband away from me. Or that fool Loki stealing his mind, turning him against us." Laura settled back against the headboard, taking care not to rock it the way Stark had pointed out it could. "The least of these belonging to Nick. I watched those men torture him for four days if only to get my name out of him. They threatened me once. One man even put his hands on me. The minute he did Nick shot ten men, killed two more with his bare hands and broke someone's jaw. They stayed focusing on him after that if only to save their ranks. He told them more times than I know where to find that toolbox of his. I knew it was a threat as much as they surely did. Let them go after it, he would say. Let them go and see—" she stopped then, flicking her eyes toward him.

"Coulson. I know, Clint came out and told us after he revealed you existed. I told him i planned to freak out about that. I haven't exactly had the chance yet."

"Nick wanted them to see him. Find Coulson. Get what was coming to them. He bided his time, knowing Clint would eventually call home and realize something was wrong. He stole the parts for the transmitter Cooper made, helped him piece them together when he could before they separated us. I knew Clint would come eventually."

"They didn't touch you? Your son?" Tony asked.

"Nothing of concern, no. Our wounds are mental. I believe I might look up a friend of mine when we go back home. She was a roommate at the University and went into psychology."

"Helped Pepper," Tony said, "When she was taken from me. I'm sure if you need to talk with someone who's been there, she would understand better. You worry about Clint, I'm sure he worries about you but doesn't say it. Didn't admit to it."

Laura took the last drink of her water and Tony retrieved the glass from her. "I never knew Clint had such good confidence in you. He never told me."

"Confidence, hmm," he said. He pushed himself off the bed and left the room to refill it. When he came back, he set it down on the side table. "I don't know about all that. I start hollering in my sleep, he knows to come and look in. I just do the same. We're a team and he has my back probably more than I have his and that's my problem. He's got more to lose than us, and now that I know it, I'm planning to be more mindful."

Tony nodded a little, as if to put a stamp on the statement and not forget it. Then he walked toward the door and hovered his hand beside the light switch. "On? Off?" he asked.

"Off is all right. I'm ok. Thank you very much, Mr. Stark."

"Tony," he whispered, heading through the door and letting it close behind him.

Laura sat in the silence that fell when he left. Her hand trailed up to touch the small bit of wall separating the two rooms. She thought then that Tony, perhaps not for the first time, was wrong about something and for that matter so was she. Tony didn't care for Clint any less than the other way around. Clint had friends here. A second family of friends beside Natasha all striving to look out for him. To be his eyes and confidence should he ever fall.

Laura sank down into the comforts of her husband's bed, feeling the warmth of those friends he lived with every day surrounding her like the sheets and blankets. She worried. She always would, but that small act by Tony adjusted her perspective.

The door creaked open and she looked over to see whether Tony had forgotten something. She was surprised to see Clint standing there instead.

"Are you ok?" Clint asked.

"Oh, Tony didn't wake you, did he?"

Clint snorted, pulling back the covers to crawl in beside her. His feet were cold, and she squirmed slightly away from them.

"Tony told me to say that he didn't wake me up, and neither did he help me move the kids into one of the spare bedrooms Hill made up for them. He further states he did not walk in here by himself nor did he have a conversation with you alone." Clint slipped his arms around her body and pulled her against his chest. She breathed against him.

"Tony did an awful lot of not saying anything."

Clint hummed into her hair.

"What are we going to do now?" she whispered into the dark.

"Now, we're going to sleep," he whispered back. "Tomorrow, Tony's going to start solving this. If he hasn't already done it."

* * *

sorry it took a little while! I've been so busy lately with school. The next chapter will be the last!

375 review? Holy crap y'all are amazing! Will we break 400?

Next time: Going home, the Epilogue


	16. Epilogue

So, I have been holding out on everyone with this update sort of intentionally. I just didn't want to let it go! I love this story and really, All of you readers and reviewers and followers and favorite...ers... ( :) ) have been so amazing I just didn't want to let you go too fast! But, alas, everything must come to an end. Even this.

 **Thank you To::**

PSW: (I love reading all your reviews as you discover my stories! I do hope you are enjoying them!)

Jenna (Aliana is totally a play on Natasha. I'm so glad you caught it!)

sip (LOL. Very lucky for them, people tend to die in my fics)

WestonFollower (Aw, thank you for everything! It has been an absolute pleasure to get to know my readers, make new friends, and I hope this story really hit all the highlights of a great Avengers story)

Aini NuFire (We will totally answer these questions right now!)

amy. .9 (I'm so excite with how this story has displayed the Avengers as people. Its really one of my favorite things to do)

DatNatCatThoe (I thought Uncle Steve was such an adorable moment!)

penguincrazy (I just love the moment with Stark and Laura. Kinda like he's on auto-pilot and then he realizes that its not Clint and he's trapped not knowing what to do. LOL)

TortoisetheStoryteller (They sure do!)

discordchick (Direct sequel? Not sure about that yet. Need to see where inspiration is taking me)

brandibuckeye (I'm not ready to let it go either!)

8839 (You'll come back?! :D That means I have succeeded in something special here and that makes my heart simply burst!)

Niom Lamboise (aw, thank you!)

ShadowPhoenix22 (Oh, Steve... I imagine he was the one who drew the funny eyebrows and nose. Maybe Thor even woke up a little, saw him poised over his forehead with a sharpie, Lila giggling, and was just like, whatever and went back to sleep. And thank you so much for the complement on keeping Clint's past consistent!)

JRBarton (I just love all of your edits. they never make me sad. And all of your support has been so wonderful and full of love, I can't even express the happiness! Thank you so much, and recover well:)

Daughter of the North ("so in character it hurt" hahahahaha! My favorite line! I think you will really like a story I have planned in the future. It's very Steve and Clint centric. An excerpt is on my author page under "Stranded")

Qweb (Tony will never confirm nor deny that talking may or may not have happened)

I-OfTheHawk (BROKE 400! And then some! Thank you!)

Karategurl13 (I actually shed some tears with this. Thank you so very much for the compliment!)

Wonderwomanbatmanfan (thank you so much!)

tlyxor1 (Thank you for keeping with me and for reading and for reviewing!)

TatteredAngel42 ( ;_; i just love this story so much, but it needs to end here because If I string it out, it'll lose that impact. I have been so sad about it!)

ThePenguinApocalypse (thank you so much for being such a great support this entire time! Your kind words have been a wonderful inspiration!)

IWriteSinsOrTragedies(I'm so sorry...:( )

ELOSHAZZY (oh, its the end...:( But thank you so much for reading and for reviewing!)

Chinagirl18 (This made me laugh so much! Thank you for that!)

* * *

 **Avenge Me**

Epilogue

Clint Barton stood staring into the reflected sky that went straight on up into oblivion. It was a cool day, not too hot or too cold despite the winter that threatened to come in only a few month's time. He had a light jacket on over his flannel long sleeve. It seemed enough to stave off a potential chill. His hands found their ways half into his jean pockets.

"You sure about this?" he asked.

Beside him, Tony leaned on the bed of the resurrected pick-up truck he'd finished repairing. Clint was right, the entire motor had been flooded out. He even had to send off for a new one, not an easy task with the model being half the age of Tony himself. Cooper put in his own two hands to fix the old beast. Clint enjoyed just watching them. It seemed no matter where he went, there was a braniac waiting to greet him.

Tony tilted the straw hat he'd procured in Clint's barn, back and off his eyebrows. A long grain of wheat, supplied from the roadside, worked between his teeth in a slow circle. Clint knew it was a play at making fun of his little hidden farm, but didn't pander to it.

Tony said, "Way I see it, no man, plane, train, or alien can come within fifty miles of this place without you knowing. By air, sea, or otherwise."

Clint lifted the sensor in his hand and looked it over. The retrofitted monitor seemed simple enough to use. He planned to have Laura look after it. She tended to have better luck with new tech than he did.

"And, if any of the above even make it to this point, they have nothing to find." Tony pushed off the truck bed and ran his hand over the simulated scenery in front of them. Where Clint's home might have once been seen down a long, dirt paved drive into the woodland, now that roadway stopped at the "closed" sign. A few feet behind that, a massive tree, supplied by Thor, seemed to block the way entirely. What was once the only entrance to the Barton family ranch was now a destroyed plot of roadway leading to a sky-high hologram.

"You said it's based off the Aven-jet stealth mode. How do I know they can't still find their way in?" Clint asked.

"Well, a meteor could always fall from the sky at a perfect ninety degree angle and hit your house out of the four jillion other trajectory locations it might had taken instead," Tony replied. He observed his handiwork proudly. "You've got your fortress, sans moat."

"Moving the driveway to higher ground was a good plan. I couldn't have done that alone."

"Yeah, well, at least now you'll have no excuse to flood your engine unless another Hurricane Sandy blows through." Tony turned away from the old road and headed into the truck cab. He waited as Clint took a final look at the holographic dome.

The feat was a brain child brewed in engineering genius and a late night movie-thon. Tony happened to see an old copy of The Shadow and watched as a character managed to make an entire skyscraper in New York disappear simply by a little mental trickery. The other half of his plan belonged solely to Pepper Potts. She had an unhealthy obsession with Once Upon a Time and he was constantly inundated with the show's fantasy while she sat up in bed, gripping her digital pad. Once Upon a Time made an entire town disappear.

Tony didn't have mystics, magic, or a good CGI artist. He did have his stealth jet technology and everything he'd ever learned about field manipulation on the Helicarrier. It took him four days, longer than he projected, but he finally ended up with a product he was proud of. He started the instillation ahead of the Barton family's return home. By the time they arrived, the bulk of it was finished, tweaked, the trees were projecting on the ground and no longer the sky, and the new road way cleared.

Bruce contributed to the proceedings not only in the fabrication, but he created half the roadway himself with a glorious wrecking ball smash. Thor went along behind him to even out the rough edges and Natasha followed last to get the doctor back. Steve, Laura, the kids, Pepper, and Hill remained back at the house while Tony and Clint surveyed the work. The cleanup still had a long way to go.

Clint turned away from the handiwork and climbed back into the cab beside Tony. He turned the engine over, satisfied at the guttural clunk-clunk of its pistons firing to life. Slipping the old diesel into gear, he pulled the front around and headed back down the opposite end of the road way.

"It's good," Clint said after a time.

"Glad you approve," Tony said.

"I couldn't have come up with something like that. I don't even know how you did it. But thank you."

Tony propped his foot on the center dash and pulled the seatbelt away from his chest. They passed a road-side memorial on the right. Someone placed a wooden cross out with a few stuffed toys, a bouquet of flowers, and on the post beside it was a hand-written poster board reading "World's Best Mom". Tony swallowed back his emotion. He knew Clint had seen it on the way up, even if he didn't say so.

"I wrote to her family for you," Tony said.

Clint's hands flexed on the steering wheel. Tight skin slid over cracking knuckles.

"Explained it as best as I could put the blame on Fury. Left your family out of it. Stacy picked him up, wanted to help. Called someone she thought could have helped. Since she recognized his picture, that meant she called us. They killed her for it. I said she did the right thing. Only wanted to help. Innocent bystander."

Silence dropped between them again. Clint flicked on the truck's turn signal and spun the wheel toward the new entrance to his home. From the outside, no one could tell there was a driveway at all. Holograms of an unending woodland blocked it from view. They drove right into the side of a fake tree to start along the winding path. The truck dropped down into the soft packed dirt and began to climb up a hill side. Clint guided them slowly over the serpentine trail, passing through three more hidden entrances before catching sight of the house.

Clint didn't answer him until they reached it. "I want to send them something. Help them get by. Stacy was a big provider for their family. She's got a good husband. He was in Iraq for five years before he lost his leg. I don't want them hurting."

"Fury handled that before I tried to," Tony said. "The kids wanted to leave. Father did too. Old and Leathery helped relocate them."

Clint pulled the truck along side Laura's car and shut the engine down. He sat back against the driver's seat and stacked his hands on the steering wheel. "Cooper will need to know about that from me. Her son was a good friend of his."

"He's a good kid."

Clint looked over at him.

"For a child, I mean. For a little, you know, mini you. He's ok. And I guess not that horrible to be around."

Clint continued to stare. Tony didn't look up but did nervously escape his seat belt. Slowly a smile spread on Clint's lips. "I never thought I'd be good at this kids thing. In fact, I had my first panic attack of my life when Laura told me she was pregnant. Now it's . . . well it's not old hat. It's never that. But I think we've got a good swing of things with two kids down."

"That baby's going to come fast."

"Not too fast. We've got another month yet. Enough time for me to re-buy all the stuff Hydra destroyed in the baby room. Laura got this special new crib from some place she's always liked online. I think it took me a week to figure out the instructions. Even with Cooper, it was another two before the thing went together." Clint shook his head. "Toss the place, fine, search all you like. But don't smack my kid around and don't break my stuff."

Laura stepped out onto the porch, letting the front door swing shut behind her. She braced her hand over her brow and squinted into the truck cab.

"Think we're being summoned," Clint said, reaching for the door handle.

"Clint?"

He stopped.

"You want to quit on us . . ." Tony stopped, shaking his head. He angled his body a little to face the archer. Clint let go of the door handle and waited. "I didn't mean to say "quit". I mean If you want to stop running with us. Leave the insanity behind and focus on what you have here, I'd understand. I can't really understand because I don't have what you do, but you know what I mean."

Clint cocked his head. "What? Leave? What are you talking about? I might need some time off when Nathanial's born to help get him settled in, but I'm not leaving the Avengers. Whatever gave you that idea?"

Tony appeared genuinely surprised. "Bruce was talking with . . . he said . . . I guess he took it wrong."

"He talked with who? With Laura?"

Tony nodded, glancing her way but not for long.

Clint sighed. "Yeah, he took it wrong. Laura supports what I do but it worries her. Scares her. Tony, she saw me get shot on that mission. That was something she'd never had to face before now. She doesn't know the team like I do and maybe that's my fault. She's worried, especially after your threw me into a wall and Thor smashed my knee, that you don't have my back. She's scared one day I'll just get left behind or something. I try to tell her it wont happen but—"

Tony began nodding. "Yeah, well, I think we might have convinced her a little."

"Why do you say that?"

Tony thought of the night, only a few days ago, when he walked in on Laura's nightmares. He remembered the look she'd given him, right before she spilled her secrets fears out. She had analyzed him. Tested him. And somehow found him worthy.

"Clint?" Laura asked from the porch.

"Never mind," Tony said offhandedly. He pushed his door open and climbed out of the cab. Confused, Clint eventually followed him out.

Laura smiled at them. "Sorry if I interrupted your moment."

"Moment? We don't have moments. We have manly conversations and beat our chests." Tony mounted the steps and planted a kiss on the cheek she aimed at him. He headed into the house.

"It was a small moment," Clint said, kissing her opposite cheek. His face lit up as he glanced in the front door. "Hey, I can see the floor!"

Laura laughed as they headed in. Natasha had a trash bag full of shattered items. She moved past him to deposit it, along with the others, on the front porch. Steve walked by with the living room couch over his shoulder and set it down by the far wall. Bruce stacked the broken portraits in a cardboard box he'd come across.

"I found four dishes, one cup, and six bowls that somehow evaded destruction," Laura said, coming in behind her husband. She indicated the line up on the open space above the kitchen sink. They were all made of plastic.

Clint chuckled. "Well, it's something to eat off of."

"Oh, and speaking of that, we're having dry cereal with a side of moss and cardboard for dinner. We'll have to eat it with chopsticks. I can't find a single one of our spoons."

"I think that means we're going for takeout," Steve said. "As appealing as moss and cardboard sound, I think I might prefer Chinese."

"I have the chopsticks!"

Clint chuckled, looking around. His house wasn't perfect. It sort of never was if his constant need to improve the place served as indication. Laura already planned to dip into the savings and start remodeling the kitchen, and the bathroom, and the . . . every room really.

Maria plodded down the stairs with Pepper and Cooper.

"Hey, dad! It took like, forever, but I think my room might be clean. And I found this in it," Cooper walked over and dropped a handful of shell casings into Clint's hand. The archer attempted to hide the horror on his face and placed them into his pocket.

Cooper looked at Tony. "Friday downloaded all the books I could find. It's working really good too. The control systems are awesome!"

Clint's eyebrow lifted and he turned to Stark. Tony shrugged and pointed at Bruce.

"Oh, me?" Bruce asked, picking up on their looks. He slid the box of photos beside the sofa. "It's an old system I fixed up. See Friday runs independently of the JARVIS mainframe. She's programmable, and kind of acts like a personal assistant in a way. She's not traceable. I keep her on a flash drive for emergencies."

"She reads all my books dad!" Cooper exclaimed, displaying the Tony Stark-like cell phone for him to see. The child scanned the bar code on the back of his book, and Friday sorted through her virtually limitless matrix. A few seconds of waiting later, the book cover scrolled across her holographic screen. A kindly voice with a touch of an accent began to read out loud.

 _"Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Chapter One…"_

Clint leaned down a little to watch as the screen displayed the lines to the story, highlighting the words as it read.

"It's cool isn't it, dad? I can load anything I want and search for stuff too."

"It's not hooked up to any servers or wifi signals, Clint, so it's running off an internet download I made last night. You can bring it to the lab any time and update it if you need to," Bruce added.

"I'm gonna look up the rest of my stuff!" Cooper turned tail and thundered back up the stairs.

Clint watched him go and said nothing. Finally, he crossed the room, and stood in front of Bruce. "You don't know what you just did for him. You gave him something I couldn't. I've been saying thank you a lot to this team for the past couple weeks, but I mean it when I say it. Thank you, Bruce." Clint's gaze fell on the others, Pepper, Hill, Tony, Steve, Natasha, and lastly Bruce again. "For both me and Laura. For our family. Thank you for helping us."

"Uncle Steve! Aunty Nat! Aunty Maria! Aunty Pepper! Uncle Tony! Uncle Hulk! Momma! Daddy!" Lila went tearing through the back door, breathless with her pig tail braids streaming behind her. She stood in the center of the living room, bouncing from one foot to another. She'd found one of her princess nightgowns while attempting to clean her room, and was swishing the skirt from side to side. Thor's real helmet sat low on her head. The sheer size of it compared to her caused its rim to slip down over her eyes. She kept her head tilted slightly back to see out from beneath it.

"Guess what, guess what, guess what!" she announced.

Clint knelt down. "What's up, my little arrow?"

"Uncle Thor got me something! It's a surprise and he won't show me, but it's something and it's for me, and I'm so excited!"

Clint began to question her when the front door opened and the large Asgardian stepped inside. His red cape was drawn over the front of his chest, hiding a little parcel in his hands which was, most likely, the object of Lila's fancy. The child bounced on the balls of her feet. If she didn't see this surprise soon, she was libel to die.

"I have procured something that I believe will bring you the greatest joy!" Thor announced, his chest pushed out in pride. He winked at Bruce. Natasha and Steve looked curiously at the doctor, who only lifted his hands. He had no idea what all the pomp was all about.

With a flick of his wrist, Thor threw his cape over his shoulder and the little parcel came into full light. He held out his hand and Lila squealed.

"ODIN!" she raced up to him and took the tiny white kitten out of Thor's hand. The Asgardian's gift had been adequately wrapped, complete with a bow that was no less than twice the size of the kitten itself.

"Odin?" Thor asked in surprise. If he wasn't mistaken, it sounded as if the child had known the animal already and Thor had merely reacquainted two old friends.

"He's so cute! Daddy, isn't he cute! I love him!"

Clint tried very hard not to let his mouth drop open, or to shoot any untoward glares in Thor's direction in front of his daughter, but it remained a struggle. "Um, yeah . . . Of course he's cute. Little Odin . . . in my house . . . imagine that."

"I'm gonna go show Coop and make him up a bed, ok daddy?"

Clint's head bobbed up and down very slowly. "Yup. Go ahead. Go do that."

Laura rounded the kitchen bar and came into the living room. "Be careful when you hold, Odin. Remember how you hold your friend Samantha's kitten."

"I remember, momma." Lila boldly declared. She started for the stairs, stopped, returned to Thor, begged him to head down to her level, kissed him, and went back to the stairs. Little kitten Odin purred in her arms as she carefully, and slowly, carried him up to the second floor.

Clint didn't move until he heard the upstairs door close and Cooper suddenly exclaim, "A CAT!" Then Clint stood up, crossed the room, and puffed his body almost to the height of Thor.

"YOU'RE TRYING TO TURN MY LITTLE GIRL INTO A CRAZY CAT LADY?!" he cried, sticking an accusatory finger into the Asgardian's face.

Thor held up his arms in supplication. "I thought it was customary that young maidens, whose caregivers wish to repel suitors, adopt small mammals to suspend their attention from men. Was that not so, Banner?" The large Avenger looked imploringly at the doctor.

"Oh, no!" Bruce cried, "Nope, not getting dragged into this one. You are on your own, Thor."

"I'm guessing I missed the conversation where this was discussed," Laura announced, claiming their attention. Her gaze was on Clint. "When did we start the Lila-might-date worrying?"

"I didn't start it! Steve asked what I was going to do when Lila one day decided to bring some guy home, and Bruce said wouldn't it be funny to get her a cat, and—"

"Hey, I was totally joking when I said that!" Bruce defended, terrified that the blame from either Barton parent would soon deflect from Thor and be leveled at him.

"I am honestly terrified to think what happens if some drugstore cowboy shows up at your door," Steve said, shrugging.

"I'm joking." Laura closed in, letting her hands fall on Clint's shoulders. Behind him, Natasha was trying with all her might to stifle the hilarity. Steve had to turn away and sat down. His face was beat red. Hill visibly choked on her own laughter.

Laura went on, ignoring them. "We discussed getting them a pet now that they're getting older. And I think Odin is a very sweet gesture, Thor." She looked over her shoulder and reassured the Asgardian. "You know how she loves animals and maybe this will keep her from bringing home baby birds like last summer. Or that raccoon. Remember the raccoon?"

Clint, clearly, remembered the raccoon.

"That does not mean our little girl is going to turn into a shut in cat lover with forty three pets. Besides, I think you already have the best potential date deterrent in the world."

"Oh?" he asked.

"I don't know if you missed it or not, but Lila now has five uncles, three aunts, and a dad who never misses. If it makes you feel better, we can even get a sign on the door that says Daddyhawk with a gun, run now." She crossed her arms around his neck. "I think she's covered on all fronts."

"Daddyhawk?" he asked, scrupulously.

"Tony said it. I thought it was cute."

"So Tony dies next, is that the order? Thor then Tony?"

Laura kissed him and moved away. She indicated Steve. "Well, Uncle Steve, you getting this baby lady some Chinese food or you letting her starve?"

Steve sprung up to his feet. "Nope, got you covered. Ok if I take the truck?"

"Key's are in the cab." Tony told him.

"And hurry back, we've got a new mission to talk about," Hill stated, finally overcoming her contagious snickering. As attention fell on her, she explained. "That added assurance we were waiting for, with the base in Sokovia?" She waited to see that they understood what she meant."It finally came through. All sweeps seem to clearly indicate something is up there. The munitions we found in Eastern Europe were confirmed to be on route there. The gamma radiation is consistent too. We're as certain as we can be that Loki's scepter is there."

Laura glanced at her husband, hoping to read the emotions on his face. The last time they discussed tracking down the scepter when SHIELD fell, Clint decided to drink half a bottle of tequila on the front deck and refloor the bathroom. Being a father helped him overcome the things he'd done under that old influence. He didn't take getting exposed to it for a second time lightly. For now, he seemed calm.

"At long last," Thor said.

"Let me guess, Coulson?" Tony asked.

Hill shrugged. Cat was out of the bag anyway.

"When do we leave?" Natasha asked.

"Whenever you want. Plans are set, jet's fueled. Players are in place."

Laura stepped up beside Thor while the others discussed the particulars of timing. She asked the Asgardian privately, "Getting this back, it means you're going home doesn't it?"

"I suppose now it does," he replied, a little quietly. "I need not be gone very long. I may return as I wish."

The radiance that temporarily fell from her face, came back once more. She squeezed his arm, pleased. "I think Lila would like that."

"Surely I would as well."

"What are we liking?" Steve asked, approaching them on his way to the door.

"My chance to once again regale our young maiden with tales of elves and dwarves," Thor announced.

"Elves. I'm sure you've got elf stories." Hill said.

"Stories later, food first," Laura said, pointing to her bulging waist line. "I'm a patient lady, but this little man says he needs Chinese as of yesterday and a jar of dill pickles to go with it."

Steve grinned. "Yes, ma'am," he said. Laura blinked at his back, getting a vague recollection of Clint as he went away. She sometimes forgot Steve was actually a captain at one time, and had much the same military background that Clint had. She supposed she could forgive him for the coy term the way she gave Clint a pass also. It seemed strange to think she had two men in her life with such old soul mentalities.

The captain invited Thor along as he passed. The Asgardian smiled, agreed, and the two went out together.

"I better go with them. I doubt Steve knows his way around town and Thor might decide the truck's possessed and put a lightning bolt through the hood," Clint said. He paused by the still surprised Laura, gave her a one-armed hug, and began to follow. "Chicken teriyaki and soba noodles. You want egg rolls too, ma'am?"

It was like watching a set of twins walk off together. "Uh . . . ye-yes. Yeah. That's fine," she stammered, marveling at them.

"Pickles too. Got it." Clint waved his hand over his shoulder. Laura didn't wave back.

"I'm going too. If he doesn't come back with my egg foo yung gravy, I'll kick him in the knee," Tony said, chasing after them. He paused by the woman and deftly planted a goodbye kiss on her cheek. Laura wondered if he even realized he'd done it. The move had become casual between them, like two familiar, long time friends. Clint heard him coming and back peddled to kick the door open for Tony to pass through. Stark poked him in the side. Clint slapped him on the back, and like warring two-year-olds they tumbled down the front stairs laughing and joking.

"He remembered it the last time, Tony," Natasha said, not expecting them to hear her.

"Get me sweat and sour!" Pepper called.

"Me two!" Hill added.

"I'll remember them. Leave it to those four and they'll forget where they parked. Besides, now I want crab rangoon. And Tony might forget that on the principle that he doesn't think "cheese" and "fried" should exist outside mozzarella sticks." Bruce crossed the room and closed the door behind himself. He just managed to climb into the back of the truck bed beside Tony when Steve slid it into drive.

Laura watched the five of them drive off down the new lane together. Clint laughed at something Tony said, throwing his head back while Bruce merely smirked and shook his from side to side. Thor leaned out of the truck window, begging to join in on their joviality. Clint stole a branch from a passing tree and smacked him back into the truck with it, causing Tony to laugh instead. They maintained a picture of peculiar group harmony, a strange sort of camaraderie one might have never suspected in a team as diverse as theirs. Laura stood at the window as they rounded the first corner out of sight. She marveled at Clint's new dynamic around these men and women. She'd seen him on teams before. Years of SHIELD work prefaced his stay with the Avengers. Never had she seen this, though. The Avengers had actually become a second family to him. Not better than the one he had, just different. She didn't realize until that moment how much Clint truly needed that.

With a smile adorning her face, and a new outlook blooming in her heart, Laura returned to the guests she still had. Oddly enough, all female. It had been ages since she'd hosted a house party to anyone beyond Clint and her strict list of cleared personnel. Not only had Clint's circle of interests improved, Laura now had Pepper Potts, Maria Hill, and Natasha Romanov with which to converse. It was like stepping into a strange, new Real Housewives of Avengers Tower.

"Well," she said, crossing her arms and leveling a steely glare in Natasha's direction, "fancy that. All the guys took off in the truck and left us girls behind to talk about them." She arched an eyebrow. "All right, Nat, spill it. I want to know every dirty secret between you and Bruce Banner. And don't you dare start denying you've given him the "come-hither eyes"!"

The end.

* * *

To date, this book has received 410 reviews, 19,000 views, and 96 of you favorited it! Barton's Farm? Thank you for the C2 nomination. It is so sweet!

I'm so sorry this book had to end, but it was the right place to go. Stringing these out too long is a sure fire way to ruin them, and I didn't want that to happen here.I do hope you lived every moment, every twist and turn, and learned to give the Claura shippers a little breathing room too. I wanted this to be everything we wanted and didn't get from the movie, and I think I might have accomplished that.

 **Other Media:**

 _Want more great stories about Hawkeye? If you haven't read my Hawkeye Initiative yet, then you might get some instant gratification right there. Start at book 1 (moments in mexico) or start at 13. Whatever floats your boat!_

 _ **What do I have in the works**_?

 _There are 3 I mention on my Author page (i think its three on there). If you follow me on Facebook, then you know the one getting my attention directly at this time, is my new "Western" which is not yet listed. here is the gist:_

Clint Barton was once a shotgun rider for the Army before the end of the war. He put his skill to use working as a trick shooter in a traveling attraction all over the west, even playing the big cities. tiring of his life in side shows, he finds his way to a lonely little town, where the big name saloon owner is Tony Stark, Natasha Romanov is a show girl, Steve Rogers the sheriff, Bruce Banner the town doctor, and Thor is . . .well, he _is_ Thor Odinson (or an elaborate lunatic). Together this team comes together in an unlikely assembly to protect their patch of earth from rowdy cowhands and an even greater evil. (It could be cheesy, but I think after this story, you can trust me to do right by our guys.)

 _ **again, I thank you, so very much, for everything you have done for me in this story. I was so happy to be a small, happy part, of your days:)**_


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